Don't Fear the Reaper, Fear the Devil Instead
by loveoftheunknown
Summary: Akira Mado is a brilliant detective for the CCG whose mishap leads her to endure horrific ordeals. She struggles to escape but Aogiri Tree wishes to mentally and physically break her. To make matters worse someone from her past returns who has agendas of his own. Warnings- There are many scenes of violence and torture you have been warned!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer- None of these characters belong to me since I'm not that creative or a master at storytelling like Ishida. Therefore just consider me borrowing them for a small tale into the darker portions of the manga involving characters' losing themselves.

Prologue- Premonitions of wicked things to come

 _This couldn't be happening._

 _This wasn't right._

 _How could something that should have been a wonderful reencounter turn into something so wrong? So nightmarish?_

 _The blonde haired woman felt sweat drip down her cheeks- or was it tears- the droplets fell on the pale hand clenching her throat aggressively._

 _Her feverish face was taken aback by the foul odor emitted from the figure's breath. The figure holding her life in his hands was like a puppeteer bending the strings of a doll. If he held the string too tight the doll would fall due to the pressure. If he dug his fingers into her windpipe harder she would fall similarly to that figurative doll._

 _She gagged and struggled uselessly against her assailant. Akira Mado was many things but a coward wasn't one of them. Her parents died fighting on the battlefield, and as the last member of their line she would follow that tradition until the end._

 _No matter how heartbreaking that tradition was in such circumstances._

 _It was getting harder to keep her eyes open as her vision turned hazy as she approached a state of unconsciousness. Perhaps she would die of asphyxiation as her opponent applied more pressure to her windpipe. How pathetic to die due to such circumstances._

 _Akira did not like to imagine scenarios where she died but if she had to use her imagination she would have preferred to die fighting as she dealt a lethal blow to a ghoul who retaliate with a death blow of their own. At least she could die with the satisfaction of knowing she died fighting just like her mother and father before her._

 _Despite her fading consciousness she chuckled as she studied her assailant, she wanted to die fighting but who could have imagined dying in the hands of someone who used to be one of the most harmless, pure hearted individuals in existence._

" _Taki-Takizawa? Why are you doing this? I thought you…you had changed," she choked out._

 _The black sclera with that awful red ghoul eye looked horrific when placed next to his human brown eye. This was the same eye that would glare at her in their academy days whenever she answered a question correctly during lecture. Who knew that same expressive gaze would turn into the eyes of a cold-blooded killer?_

 _Fate was a fickle, cruel thing._

 _Those eyes that had been so familiar to her as the eyes of an idealistic young man eager to prove himself had changed into calculative ruthlessness. The eyes of a killer had replaced the young man she once knew._

 _Her blood ran cold as his black lips lifted up into an animalistic grin revealing his teeth. Like a lion revealing its fangs before going in for the kill._

 _Takizawa started laughing gutturally like her response was the funniest thing he had ever heard._

 _Her ears were pounding; she could feel her hands growing stiff as she struggled to stay awake. Already she was losing touch with reality._

 _At least she began to lose feeling in her ligaments as her hands fell uselessly to her sides._

 _This couldn't be happening. She couldn't go out like this!_

 _Takizawa continued to laugh as though they had shared some private joke where she was the punch line, which ironically was theoretically true as she remembered the wound on her stomach that still ached despite the numbness overtaking her._

 _She began to gasp for air as he applied even more pressure, did he not realize he was digging his fingers into her flesh so roughly he was drawing blood? Her vision started to go black but she was able to hear his statement before slipping into oblivion._

" _Oh Mado, it's almost cute how much you deny that Seidou Takizawa is dead," she could hear the sneer in his voice rather see it. "That_ fool _is dead, here standing before you is Owl a subordinate of the Aogiri Tree Organization. And…"_

 _She closed her eyes as he dragged his last sentence out like he wanted it to be the last thing she heard before dying._

" _And the fundamental killer of Associate Special Class Ghoul Investigator Akira Mado my long time nemesis."_

 _She felt him drift closer like a lover whispering sweet nothings for her alone to hear, but a lover would never rejoice in their partner's demise she thought despondently._

" _All hail the fallen queen of the CCG, Akira Mado!"_

 _And with that final mocking outburst ringing in her ears she finally succumbed to her injuries and drifted off into nothingness._

Author's Note- I was going to put off writing another story until I release the remaining chapters on one of my stories but I couldn't focus since this one has been pestering me for days. Perhaps if I can get the gist of what's coming in this story started I can finally focus on the fateful ending of another. (I might be having a J.K. Rowling moment).

Warnings for things to come- This is probably going to be one of my darkest stories to come out but the Tokyo Ghoul universe is not for the faint of heart so I don't think anyone is going to get squeamish. The storyline will be following Tokyo Ghoul Re until Chapter 33, which has been released recently, since I believe the story should take place after the events of the Auction when Akira can finally have some peace to ponder over revelations of her former classmate's return. (Some characters might have OOC moments but I will try to remain faithful to the source material).


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer- No character belongs to me.

Warning- Things are about to get messy and this chapter is freaking long just a heads up.

Chapter One- You can't win against Devils

"Taki-Takizawa?" beseeched the female investigator through wimpy gasps. The hands clutching her wrists tightened upon her question to the point she grew apprehensive about whether her wrists would be crushed if her male opponent applied any more pressure.

Akira Mado was frightened of this male attempting to suffocate her. The high-ranking investigator was known for her quick wit and ability to calmly rationalize through troubling predicaments. Already at the tender age of 24 she had proven herself a more than capable Associate Special Class Ghoul Investigator, a respectable position for someone so young. If the ghoul extermination headquarters, the CCG, needed someone to get rid of a powerful ghoul she was usually at the top of the list of investigators chosen to be sent out to the field.

But never in her dreams did she imagine a scenario such as this.

 _A few hours back- Same day_

Earlier in the day she had been chosen to investigate a possible ghoul hideout where it was rumored that the abandoned apartment was secretly home to lower ranked C ghouls who were too busy feasting on rats to prove a formidable threat to the organization. But people in the neighborhood had started to go missing which stirred residents into a frenzy about their safety.

Akira had just poured herself a cup of coffee and taken a seat at her desk to look through some files on the meeting held earlier about the Rosewald family. Her Quinx Squad had been personally selected to deal with the influential ghoul family and she was quite proud of their numerous accomplishments within the past year.

Despite her scolds to her partner about his need to stop addressing her as "mom" after meetings she oddly felt like a proud mother. Closing her eyes she took a quick sip of the scalding coffee and wondered what the world was coming to.

Her quiet moment of peace was interrupted by some of her juniors hesitantly approaching her. The subordinates were young and recently graduated so they were fresh pickings to deal with trivial matters.

She opened an eye and took slight amusement in the way they shuffled their feet awkwardly and twiddled their thumbs.

What was she? The mafia boss who would cut off their pinkies if they failed a task?

Sighing she swirled in her chair to place her coffee on her clean desk, she preferred stations clear of clutter to help her stay concentrated, before turning around to give the men her undivided attention.

Clearing their throats they began recounting the events of their caseload from the previous day.

Some lower rank subordinates had been sent out as a first wave to check on the site of this particular case and came back with a report that the ghouls were famished and too weak to pose a real threat. The CCG wanted to quietly sweep this incident under the rug so Investigator Mado was selected as the most qualified to be sent out to deal with the situation swiftly and leave no traces of ghoul habitation in the booming neighborhood.

The subordinates quickly added their higher-ups did not feel they were not properly trained to get certified as ready for field combat just yet. The squad was trained for spying and reconnaissance but not for battle preparation just yet.

She would never have been bothered with a case like with her current rank but a majority of the squads had been sent out for a cleanup sweep of ghoul hideouts belonging to attendants of the Auction. Her Quinx Squad was collaborating with other squads into an investigation involving the Rosewald family and connections to several kidnappings over a prolonged period of time.

Nobody would dare to trouble Kishou Arima with such a pitiable case to save face in front of the renowned "Death God" of the CCG.

So the case, Apartment Sweep, was placed into her file load since she was not currently assigned to any case. She was reassured there were no connections to the Aogiri Tree or Rosewald kidnappings when she raised an eyebrow on how "all these kidnappings" had slipped under public radar.

One of the men sheepishly claimed the residents mostly kept to themselves since shady characters were known to frequent certain areas of the neighborhood. The other guy, the "airhead" she decided to term him in her private thoughts, chipped in that it wasn't ghouls frequenting the residential area but punks and drug-dealers.

He added how ironic it was that the crack-heads avoided the abandoned area even when they had snorted so much crack they were gone to the world as they ran around practically butt-naked.

The asinine graduate shut up when she fixed him with a stern gaze and recommended it would be wise to provide objective specifics in the future. She did find humor in the piercing gaze his colleague sent him like egging him to say something else stupid so he could punch him.

Kids these days.

Right now she cursed the fact her reputation wasn't similar to Arima's and wished her title as the "Ice Queen of CCG" an unaffectionate label granted to her through mumbles under hushed exchanges in the break room would come into play. It wasn't her fault she was good at her job but some men frowned on having to follow orders given by a woman. If she weren't a by-the-books professional she would have loved to do nothing more than take out her quinque and knock them down a few pegs but sadly she wasn't the type to fly into a random whirl of emotions on the whim.

And with great reluctance she chose to ignore their chides with a cool nod whenever she entered the break room, but she did find satisfaction in how quickly they shut up in her presence.

While she didn't like to think upon power struggles within the organization there were times she found certain enjoyment in how her class ranking provided her with certain liberties.

Either she had grown spiteful or soft in the past three years?

After she was given the short briefing she agreed to take on the case claiming it was so easy she could deal with it herself instead of pestering other colleagues to help her. It was known throughout Headquarters everyone had been swamped with paperwork thanks to the Auction Raid and the matter of protecting weapons during the Quinque Transportation.

Deeming the case as non-threatening she chose to travel on her own to also not have to worry about possible injuries to newly trained subordinates. The decision was not the wisest one but she wanted to focus her attentions on other matters such as the aftermath of the Ghoul Auction Raid, which had happened several months prior. Before she headed out she did notify some colleagues on her whereabouts should any incidents occur.

On the phone she heard dead silence before they chided her on being reckless in these troubling times which she agree with wholeheartedly. She reassured them she was taking extra steps to insure the welfare of any possible survivors- she doubted there were any- and her own state of being.

With great reluctance they bid her Godspeed and sent her on her way.

Since many high ranking ghouls had been annihilated during the raid a great weight had been lifted off many investigators' shoulders which may have been why they weren't being too harsh on her hasty decision to get the sweep up over and done with.

Several troublesome ghouls had managed to be exterminated by her colleagues and overall, despite several ghouls of the Aogiri Tree organization, the CCG's arch enemy, managing to slip away, the Raid had been considered a triumph for the ghoul investigators.

However while the Raid had several good points there were also other problematic factors popping up that troubled her greatly.

While it was amazing how fast her Quinx Squad had received promotions she was still troubled over their capabilities on being in the field. At 21 she had seen horrors on the battlefield and lost many good men and women due to the One-eyed Owl's reappearance. Would these teenagers- barely old enough to no longer be considered children- be able to hold their own against Aogiri's S-ranked ghouls, she didn't want to fathom their opponents being the leaders.

Then there was the matter of Hinami Fueguchi, the ghoul who lent a hand in her father's death prior to her assignment into his squad. Her heart panged as she remembered taking the place of her father as Koutarou Amon's partner. Her heart began to ache further as she remembered slowly losing every man she had loved in her life within the span of a year. First, it was her father, next was her first love and partner, and lastly her classmate who also held a special place in her heart. It seemed that she was the angel of death to anybody she loved dearly.

Whenever these troubling thoughts threatened to consume her she would pour a bottle of whiskey to drown her sorrows before clicking on some sappy horror movie to watch with her cat Maris Stella.

Her thoughts shifted back to the murderer of her father. As aggravating as it was she was unable to deal with the ghoul until her subordinate, Haise Sasaki, chose to release the young ghoul from his custody.

And from the look of things he wasn't going to release her from his protection any time soon.

While the factors were worrisome there was one issue she couldn't shake off her shoulders, a weight that had been placed on her ever since the Raid's end. After her ghoul opponents had fled mid-battle she was not given the chance to rest as an intercom sounded throughout the facilities of her subordinate crying out in pain and a ghoul's maniacal laughter over the investigator's cries.

Many investigators were shell-shocked over the brutality of the sounds but something in her was stirred into action, as she wanted to save her partner along with identifying this random ghoul. Something about the brief sounds of his laughter struck a cord of familiarity in her.

Imagine the young woman's shock to run headfirst into an old accomplice she had previously thought presumed dead since a body was never recovered. In her mind she believed Aogiri had killed her former classmate along with Investigator Amon.

Life was a funny thing sometimes as she stared in bewilderment at the figure of a man in a tattered black hooded robe and baggy pants. These garments were vastly different from the strict conservative clothing preferred for agents of the CCG.

In only one glance Akira Mado recognized Seidou Takizawa, alive and in the flesh. And also a ghoul now apparently.

Sometimes she wished she had said something more than simply his name but her shock muted her. Strangely former investigator Seidou Takizawa drew quiet in his inhuman laughter when their eyes connected. The newly awakened ghoul wearing the face of her associate stared at her in confusion before quietly saying her name while covering his face and fleeing before any further actions could be taken.

After the incident she spent many nights drinking several bottles of beer as she pondered over his transformation. While it was difficult to examine the young man from afar she could make out how his once lightly tan skin had turned a ghastly white color that matched his pure white hair.

Seidou had light colored brown hair he kept short ,with two side bangs, that matched his eyes; while he was average in appearance his boyish features didn't make him any less charming. He was also known to dress professionally and he always had a wide-eyed appearance as a CCG idealist who was the organization's loyalist follower.

As a ghoul his hair had grown past his chin and was the color of milk and no longer was kept professional. Instead of a suit he now wore a strange hooded robe that matched the color of his fingernails and lips; later mentioned in a conversation by Quinx leader Haise Sasaki offhandedly before a cloud drifted over his eyes as painful memories of his battered body resurfaced.

Seidou Takizawa had become Aogiri member "Owl" and seemed to longer possess the principles of his former beliefs as a detective.

There were pictures of mangled bodies taken from the aftermath of his fights depicting a loss in humanity as he obviously enjoyed torturing the investigators. Some crude detectives whispered under hush breaths how "Owl" seemed to enjoy making a presentation of his victims as some gesture of "screw you" to the CCG.

Hearing their quiet discussion earned a harsh glare from the young woman which silenced them immediately.

Seidou Takizawa wasn't capable of such cruelty. Was he?

Nonetheless his file had been moved from missing to ghouls needing extermination. She managed to sneak a peek at his file during a calm day and was distraught to learn he was considered an SS-ranked ghoul needing immediate extermination no questions asked.

Some doubts about CCG's sentencing were raised since the higher-ups seemed to show no despair over a former investigator's transformation. Why weren't there more questions as to how he was turned into a ghoul? Why didn't her colleagues share the same sentimentality as to what torture caused him to become like this?

Was he just another disposable member that they considered too unremarkable to worry about?

Then again after losing a prodigal member like Koutarou Amon some expressions of sadness were shown over such a loss but nobody spared another moment to concern themselves over his demise.

The two men she was deeply connected to were just two more corpses thrown into an ever-growing pile.

During one of her many lonely drinking nights she was disgusted over this mentality the CCG possessed but found herself ashamed since she once bore a similar mindset.

The more ghouls dead the better was her ideology but now things had changed, things were different. She wasn't the same woman who killed ghouls relentlessly as she was several months ago. Getting to know the Quinx's personally and seeing Takizawa in his current state had shaken up some firmly-held believes she used to possess. Now her mind was consumed with troubling thoughts but she realized with growing sadness this was the lifestyle she was raised in and it was impossible for her to abandon established beliefs in one night.

She refused to disgrace the name of her parents by becoming some ghoul sympathizer just because some kids and one ghoul was someone important to her. No, she was a ghoul exterminator born and raised; it was too late to change now.

Or so she had thought before the turn of events of today.

The case started out simple, an abandoned apartment sitting on the edges of town, she simply needed to head to the basement where the nest was contained. There were presumably five ghouls in total ranging from 17 to 24 in age. The ghouls were described as emaciated in appearance and were very weak due to starvation.

During the early portion of the day when the sun was hallway across the horizon she began her operation. Luckily the streets were deserted as residents chose to keep to themselves from the frightening layout of this dilapidated mess of an apartment complex.

Finding a convenient opening in the boarded doorframe she slipped inside quietly to begin the investigation. From the look of things this level was deserted due to the high amount of dust and little signs of occupation.

No rotting corpses were found in this area.

Sunlight filtered through the boarded windows casting small batches of light on her surroundings. From what she could tell the wallpapers were an awful floral print that reminded her of grandmothers baking cookies. An older woman probably bought this pattern because it was presentable. Many of the ancient appliances were severely outdated and were likely to be found in some cheap museum.

Akira had to carefully maneuver around cobwebs hanging from the ceiling and along chipped doorframes. She had to squint her eyes to make out tattered curtains along with furniture smashed to pieces. Whether a group of rebellious hooligans or ghouls looking to ease their boredom did these random vandal acts was undeterminable.

She took a few steps down a hallway and opened a door her coworkers assured led to the basement. When the awful smell of decomposing bodies wafted up to slam into her she had to take a step back from the putrid smell.

The woman covered her mouth and nose to prevent herself from gagging. Her eyes began tearing up as dust stirred up her allergies. It took a few moments for her to pat down her waist until she managed to find her belt containing her quinque and gas mask. The moment her fingers connected with the metal object she unclipped it and quickly covered her face.

Once the mask was secured with a few buttons pressed she inhaled deeply. She was about to rub her irritated eyes until she was reminded of the mask protecting it. She released a huff of annoyance before recomposing herself into an image of professionalism.

Akira was glad she decided to wear a longer skirt and thick stockings for this mission based on observations from her coworkers. They explained there were asbestos and other possible contaminations present from mistreatment of past tenants. In certain spots she saw black sludge and dark stains splattered on walls. She resisted taking samples to determine if there were more victims killed here in the past than presently known.

Akira assured herself that once the ghouls were exterminated she could look into this matter personally.

She wore a cream-colored skirt and her dark dress shirt along with a cream color tie to maintain a somewhat feminine appearance. She found skirts easier to move in. Due to the complex being boarded up and missing air conditioning units the place was an inferno. She could feel her legs grow sweaty and a few glistening drops fall from her brow but these were small problems compared to the nest awaiting her down these steps.

Assessing the situation she concluded it was better to feel uncomfortable than expose herself to bacteria and other contaminations.

Gripping her flashlight she slowly descended the stairs pausing whenever they creaked beneath her boots. When nothing rushed her she slipped down further until she felt the air grow cooler, the mask fogged up briefly as the lens adjusted to the change in temperature also.

Akira placed her left foot forward and began to slowly scale the floor.

She grabbed her weapon in her right hand as she raised the flashlight up. Taking a deep breath she clicked the thing on and began to slowly scan her surroundings. In this area were nothing but cardboard boxes and other junk. No signs of corpses or other signs of ghoul occupation.

Akira flashed the light over the room once again until the light flashed over a white door at the other end of the room. She noticed light filtering in from beneath the door but saw no movement meaning her presence was not detected yet.

However, it was better safe than sorry.

She scanned the ceilings and checked behind her to find nothing but the wall and staircase, flashing a light over the wooden steps revealed nothing waiting to ambush her underneath.

Turning the flashlight off she approached the door with the small trace of light as the only way to get to her location. She held the element of surprise and wanted it to remain that way. A healthy or powerful ghoul would not be easily warped but the weaker, starved ones could easily be overtaken.

The young woman was thankful this case was an easy one simply to waste time from demanding Haise to relinquish control of the prisoner or continue her mind's wanders of Seidou's current state.

Akira reached the door and stopped breathing momentarily to listen in. Besides slight stirring against the wall or objects the room was dead quiet.

Either they were waiting to spring their own assault or were too focused on cannibalizing their flesh. It was a known disgusting habit that certain ghouls ate their own flesh when food sources were low or they needed substance to speed up their healing abilities.

Ghouls could possess some of the most animalistic habits the CCG reported in lectures.

Hooking her flashlight back onto her belt, she uncurled her quinque and delighted in how easily she managed to control the whip. Other investigators found the weapon difficult to manage but she was true to her father's capabilities as she mastered the weapon in a short span of time.

Releasing the breath she held Akira decided she had waited long enough before she kicked the door in and rushed the ghouls.

This was too easy.

There were only four ghouls present and they had all been sleeping before she interrupted their sleeping schedule. (The fifth one could be worried about later). The ghouls' eyes shot open revealing the characteristic black sclera and red eyes all ghouls possessed. (Except for the modified human ghouls that only bore one ghoulish eye while the other remained human in appearance).

Due to their state of starvation they were sluggish in movement and she easily took advantage of this weakness. In the span of a second she twisted her whip around the nearest ghoul's head and gave a firm tug yanking the male ghoul's head clean off.

Blood spurted from his collapsing body causing one famished ghoul to claw his way over to the corpse and proceed to feast on the raining blood and his former friend. Akira recoiled in disgust before another ghoul, a female, slammed into her. The ghoul was too weak to prove a threat so Akira easily dispatched her with a firm shove. Once the female ghoul fell Akira kicked her in the face sending the ghoul into a screaming fit.

Swinging the whip around her head Akira aimed the weapon around the female's neck and swiftly made a clean kill. This ghoul's head rolled a few feet to the squatting male ghoul feasting on his friend feverishly. When the head made contact with his foot he glanced over and smiled inanely before plucking the head right off the ground to begin biting into the woman's skull.

If Akira hadn't grown used to such scenes she was certain she would have been sick at the ghoul's barbarism and lack of humanity. But these creatures were different from humans and possessed no known sense of moral code. It was every ghoul for themselves once faced with the investigators. Some ghouls formed feeding packs but found no problem abandoning the weaker members when the investigators or starvation hit.

Thinning her lips she slowly approached the feasting ghoul and watched dispassionately as the foolish creature turned its head to stare at her stupidly with a thankful grin plastered on his face. Blood dripped from his toothy smile and Akira took no issue with spinning her whip around to gain momentum before she swiped his body in half with a direct blow through the torso.

Her father would have been proud.

The ghouls nerves allowed the body a few moments to register he had been cut in half before the top half collapsed to the floor. Blood poured on the floor causing Akira to take a step back from the puddle forming in front of her feet.

She wasn't squeamish towards these grotesque displays but found no enjoyment of cleaning a ghoul's entails off her footwear.

Akira surveyed her surroundings noticing several corpses piled across the room that were either molding or the flesh had rotten off revealing the bones underneath.

Thank god she decided to wait on eating beforehand or else she might have gagged at one of the corpses whose eyeball was hanging from what was once its' socket. The victim's face had been smashed in until the skull had apparently cracked under the pressure.

Her hatred towards these creatures and their cruelty increased.

Akira was so focused on the dead ghoul and human remains surrounding her she had almost forgotten the last ghoul tucked away in a corner where it tried to hide in the shadows. Its' tactics were foolish since its' whimpers alerted her to its location.

She couldn't make out the gender from this angle but she could tell the body was small in physique. Possibly a ghoul in their early teens or even a child ghoul!

Some investigators stalled when encountering a child ghoul which cost them their lives. A child ghoul, an adult ghoul, it didn't matter they were all the same. It was a known fact all ghouls were nothing more than bloodthirsty monsters looking for a meal to eat.

When dealing with ghouls it was best to take out personal feelings in order to properly get a job done. Usually the investigators most likely to get killed on the job were the ones who had suffered the loss of a child.

A shiver ran down her spine as she could imagine the agony of a parent having to watch their child turn into a monster. Several of the missing detectives were someone's spouse or child. The pain they would endure once they discovered their child's transformation into a monster who feasted on human flesh.

Akira hoped she would never have to knock on an investigator's door to notify their family of their loss.

The young investigator could not handle having to see someone fall apart due to their loss.

"Poor Mr. and Mrs. Takizawa _,_ " were the troubling thoughts of the investigator. She had yet to tell them the news to not add another burden to their grief. But she remembered the first year spent on the phone with Mrs. Takizawa as they remembered better times. She knew the woman had known about their rivalry in school but she put aside those petty times to think about the good qualities of her former classmate to spare Mrs. Takizawa from further grief.

The ghoul began whimpering pathetically snapping Akira from her train of thoughts. The whimper sounded girlish in pitch registering the fact the ghoul was probably a young female.

Even though the ghoul was probably close to death judging the state of her friends it did not change the fact she had worked with the pack to make slim pickings of residents. Not sparing another thought to rationalize the ghoul's habits Akira slowly began to approach the ghoul cautiously. Who knew if the ghoul was about to spring a trap, some ghouls were calculative in tricking humans into believing they were weaker than they actually were.

Placing her hand behind her she allowed her grasp to go limp to determine whether she would stand for an offense or defense strike. She hunched down to keep a better balance should the ghoul rush her. She was a good fighter but she was not the best at fighting on the ground due to her small physique.

Stepping over a rib cage Akira treaded carefully until she stood a few feet from the ghoul. Once she was certain the ghoul was not going to rush her she stood upright and steely stared at the figure of the ghoul covered in a blanket, which muffled her sobs somewhat.

Without hesitation Akira asked coolly, "There's no doubt that your friends are dead which leaves you alone as the last member to be annihilated so spare me any sympathy attempts and tell me were the last member of your pack is so you have another friend to join you in the afterlife."

The ghoul's sobs became louder as she began shaking fearfully. She clutched the blanket tighter as though it would shield her from her soon to be executioner.

"I'll ask again, where is your friend ghoul?"

Akira was put on the defensive when the ghoul began laughing icily. The sound was like nails against a chalkboard. The blanket was dropped to reveal a short female wearing a purple hooded robe with cat ears attached at the top. The female investigator's eyes narrowed as she looked at the bandages covering the ghoul's entire body helping to mask her identity.

Akira immediately grew suspicious.

Just why was the ghoul wearing wrappings instead of a mask like her fellow ghouls?

The ghoul continued to laugh until she stopped to drop the blanket and stand up fully, the girl was short in height but this did not make her any less threatening. Placing her hands behind her back to grip each other together, she tilted her head as though examining an insect.

Akira shifted her torso back and lifted the whip above her head with the other arm held back to maintain her balance or strike out should the ghoul leap. It was not yet determinable what kagune this ghoul possessed.

The girl began chuckling childishly before saying in a girly voice, "Oh you weren't aware?"

Akira narrowed her eyes further and tightened her muscles preparing for anything. Gravelly she asked, "Aware of what?"

The ghoul cocked her head further, "That he was right behind you?"

Akira snapped up to swivel around to face whatever came at her when a hand shot out to grip the investigator around the neck before leaping to the side to slam her body against the wall. She gasped as pain ran down her spine; her head had collided into the thick walls hard causing the room to spin.

Instantly she tried to swing the whip into the male ghoul's side but he easily grabbed the whip and yanked it out of her hand effortlessly to discard it like a toy. Akira followed the weapon's positioning with a sinking feeling that she was going to have to think her way out of breaking his grip.

The ghoul breathed excitedly in his red mask that covered the lower half of his face. The fiend was enjoying her pain and fear like he could taste it in the air. His red eyes never shifted from her face as he stared at her haughtily. While it was hard to determine whether he was gloating over his advantage of subduing her she could tell he was having fun.

The girl ghoul began swirling in a circle with her arms raised; she paused to lift her arms before looking at the tall ghoul wearing a white trench coat. The posture reminded Akira of a child posing in a ballet style manner.

The ghoul began clapping her hands as she skipped over to them to grip his jacket on the side giggling happily. "Tatara, you never cease to amaze me with how easily you can sneak attack your opponents."

The male ghoul named Tatara didn't respond to her chirps and it was hard to decipher whether he heard her or was simply ignoring her flattery. His only response was to tighten his grip around Akira's throat.

Clapping her hands together the ghoul inquired happily, rhetorically asking Akira, "Just what should we do with you?"

She continued thinking out loud, "It's been a long time since we faced an opponent who manages to put up a good struggle. I have to admit it would be foolish of us to lower our guard around you."

"Therefore, I think we should break your arm that can hold the quinque or tear your hands off. What do you think, Miss Investigator?"

Akira chuckled darkly, it was foolish of her to challenge the ghouls but she couldn't help sniping at the other female, "I'm not sure, why don't you hand me back the quinque so we can strike up a bargain in what I should do to you in exchange? Personally I think your head would look lovely mounted on a wall."

The woman wasn't prepared for the fist colliding into her face, she cried out in pain when she felt blood drip down her chin. The male ghoul's eyes turned to steel as he responded menacingly, "It would be wise to hold your tongue when addressing us Dove."

Nobody knew which ghoul had coined the nickname Dove but ghouls ran as soon as they encountered one of the investigators. It was a first that these ghouls didn't run the moment she had appeared. She got the gut feeling these ghouls were more threatening than she originally thought.

She needed to calmly access a way out of this predicament. She scolded herself for failing to detect his presence but just where had he come from?

"Just keep talking to keep them busy while you formulate an escape plan," thought the investigator.

"Who are you guys? I get the feeling you two are formidable opponents with better sense than to hang out with lowly ghouls like these guys," she asked earnestly. Just why did these powerful ghouls waste time with weaklings.

The girl shrugged, " Oh that? Actually we're not affiliated with these fools, we were just passing through the neighborhood after acquiring information from an insider that a powerful investigator was being sent to deal with problem."

"An insider," Akira latched onto this information instantly. Not wasting another breath she spat out, "You mean to tell me you have connections in the CCG? Surely they're not ghouls or else we would have identified what they were instantly."

Tatara breathed wearily like he was tired of dealing with an idiot, "No you idiotic Dove. We hired certain humans who were desperate for a paycheck to earn some money to buy drugs. It was easy pickings since they were used to playing the role of a scout."

Akira's hands had tightened around the ghoul's wrist as she fought to pry his hands off uselessly. Okay, physically fighting against him was out of the question so she needed to outwit him since the female ghoul was nothing more than a talker… The flashlight budged into her back as he pushed her further into the wall.

Little shards pushed into her shirt eliciting a hiss of pain but she ignored it to focus on crafting a plan in dealing with the male.

"And who were these scouts? Tell me so I can have them interrogated and thrown in prison for collaborating with ghouls. It's a federal crime to form relationships with ghouls. I'm sure you are aware of this," she informed them.

The girl giggle amusingly, like Akira was some comedian in her mind, "You sure do have a lot of confidence in your abilities but then again you managed to fend off Triple Blades easily."

Akira's eyes widened, "Don't tell me you two are agents _for Aogiri_?"

"Oh we're not agents, we're _executives_ for the one-eyed king meaning you better watch what you say since he told us your life is forfeit, Dove. We're high enough on the totem pole to receive direct orders from the king instead of receiving orders from a superior," the female stated factually.

"I can't believe you guys manage to _persuade_ humans to join your cause," Akira sprung out immediately. The Aogiri Tree was formed to eliminate humans without mercy it was known that the ghouls wasted no time killing any human who crossed their path. "Who was foolish enough to assist you since they're probably scheduled for execution once they grow useless."

The girl templed her hands beneath her chin as she leaned in to state to Akira, "It was difficult to decide which investigator to eliminate. But we all agreed you were an easy choice since some of our subordinates had personal reasons as to why they wished to see you dead."

Piecing together the information Akira determined, "Your scouts were members of the squad sent out to access the case weren't they?"

"Close but you're wrong."

"They were the ones chosen to assign the case?"

"Getting colder."

Akira looked away to think over the situation as the two ghouls quietly awaited her answer. Her head snapped back, "It was the two guys who notified me I had been given the case wasn't it?"

"Bingo," the girl applauded. "Those two were never part of the reconnaissance, there was never a decision to send you out by the team's actual squad leader. We simply gave you the case with a few simple facts to peak your interest, most of your colleagues were too busy with other caseloads to smell something fishy."

"Somebody did their homework," Akira stated with slight marvel. "So just who are these ghouls with a vendetta against me?"

The girl held up her fingers and began lowering them as she provided the list, "Triple Blades is furious that you managed to kill some of our companions and wishes to rip your organs apart."

Akira shuddered but stared the girl down, refusing to show weakness.

The girl continued, "Poor Naki had to watch his friends get slaughter before his very eyes and he detests how you always manage to one-up him in combat. He wishes to pound your skull into mush as revenge for his dead friends."

"Tatara here hates how you always lend a hand in thwarting our plots, I'll admit it gets very annoying," she patted Tatara's shoulder, having to lean up on her tippy toes to reach her much taller companion. He paid no notice to her.

With growing alarm Akira realized she was dealing with ghouls who were scaled as SS ranks on CCG's threat ranking. The woman was trained to fight with powerful ghouls but having to deal with three challenging opponents would prove taxing. And most definitely a way to get herself killed without any backup.

"Finally-"

"So that makes four ghouls wishing to slaughter me," she thought glumly.

Despite the bandages Akira noticed the sick smile etching across the girl's face as though a sick prank was about to be pushed on her. "The last ghoul with a vendetta recently joined our cause and he's admitted to despising you for personal reasons."

Biting her lip Akira closed an eye to try ignoring the pain as Tatara lifted her off the ground. Her feet kicked against him to try regaining her lost footing but her blows did no damage except for earning an annoyed glare.

However her uplifted position gave her easier access to the flashlight pushing into her lower back painfully as Tatara continued to try smashing her through the wall. The quinque was too far from her now in this position to jump for the object without having to deal with the female should she make a break for it.

Luckily talking to them was a good diversion for her plans to fall into place.

"Just what are these personal reasons? Did I kill his spouse or partner in action?"

Tatara glared at her hatefully before shoving her further in. The female cocked her head in an owlish manner.

"No such thing. His reasoning is slightly…how should I put it?" The cat eared ghoul tapped a finger against her chin like a teacher reprimanding a child as she planned a suitable punishment. "Ah, you could say his vendetta is based on crimes from past occurrences. Therefore, you could define it as 'different' circumstances from the other three." She did air quotes while finishing up her statement cheekily.

The longer the two women conversed with each other while playing mind games in their back-and-forth the stronger Akira's dislike grew. "Define different," scowled Akira.

The smile widened. "He claims you were always better than him and so he refuses to be your inferior in his current state."

The investigator managed to turn her head to stare into the black holes of the bandages where the girl's eyes were located. She shivered as those black nothingness directed their full attention on her. "What are you talking about?"

The girl placed her hands behind her again. The girl cooed, "Patience is a virtue my little investigator."

Scanning Akira up and down the girl stated cheerfully, "Oh I can tell you'll be a tough one to break, won't she, Tatara?"

The man chuckled darkly; the first signs of a personality he had shown in his entire time spent choking the life out of Akira. "Trust me, Eto, give me an hour and I'll have her begging to die instead of enduring my afflictions."

Refocusing her attention on the male Akira glowered at him. "If you expect me to beg for my life like a cowering dog then you're sadly mistaken."

The girl, Eto, whistled, she pranced up to Akira and angled her head to the side to gaze at Akira closely. The girl leaned up on her toes to whisper, "We're going to enjoy disfiguring you, little _Akira Mado."_

Despite the sudden chill running up and down her spine earning an unwanted shudder Akira tried changing the conversation topic. "Just keep them sidetracked," she gripped the flashlight tighter. If she struck the girl the man would focus on her injuries allowing Akira to crotch spot him. Human or ghoul it didn't matter any male went down when kicked in the groin area.

Or she could slam the flashlight into the male's head and make a break for it, either way she needed to move quickly before their reinforcements came in.

She didn't need Triple Blades, Naki, or even Rabbit showing up.

Also if she was taken to their base who knew whether their legendary one-eyed king would allow her to leave _alive_.

Akira squinted at the girl, "I know my reputation can exceed me but I find it hard to believe you actually took the time to learn my name."

Tatara raised his hand to slap her hard. Akira's head swept to side this time, she could feel her cheek sting where a bruise was likely to form.

"What did I say about interrupting?" the deep voice stated expressionlessly.

Closing her eyes to dull the pain she slowly turned her head to fix him with a hated glare. His red eyes narrowed.

"Hit me again and watch what happens, prick."

The ghouls were silent for a few seconds before Eto burst out laughing. "You have to give it to her Tatara the girl has spirit. She'll be a fun one to watch as we tear off her ligaments."

Tatara coldly stated, "I'm looking forward to it."

Eto began picking at her nails. Disinterestedly she coldly returned, "Knock her unconscious already. You know the king does not like to be kept waiting."

"Agreed, if we waste anymore time we'll suffer the consequences."

Leaving her face blank Akira decided this was as good as an opportunity as she was going to get. Slowly Akira rolled the cold metal forward to rest underneath her fingers. She dug the flashlight out to rest at her hip.

Wait for it…wait for it…

She watched dispassionately as he angled his elbow back to get momentum to deal the final blow. He closed his fingers into a fist and affirmed boorishly, "See you in hell."

NOW!

Akira gripped the flashlight tightly and slammed it into the side of his head; while the blow did little damage he was caught off-guard and loosened his grip. Akira instantly used his confusion to push him off and sprint for the door. She paused in mid-step to fling the flashlight towards Eto's face and rejoiced in the small cry of pain.

Before fully running out the door she skidded to a stop to grab her weapon before continuing her escape. The weapon would give her some leverage but she was at a disadvantage since she had no indication as to what their kagunes were.

Dealing with a highly agile Ukaku whose speed was lightening fast along with the combo defense of a Koukaku in this small environment would hinder her since the quinque could immobilize one opponent but would leave her open for the other ghoul's attack.

Akira commanded herself to calm down to rationally think through her options. No matter the kagune she was a formidable opponent against ghouls and their brief conversation affirmed her belief that they had some hesitation in engaging her in battle. She needed to take advantage of their concerns but first she needed a wider battlefield without boxes or other junk. If she didn't pay close attention to her surroundings she could easily trip over a box while engaging one of the ghouls in duel.

Typically she was a swift fighter and could easily multitask but she hated to admit Tatara's head blows caused a ringing in her ears and made it hard for her to pay closer attention as her head pounded. Later on she needed to find an icepack to numb the pain.

Her lungs protested as she used every ounce of energy to stay ahead. She was trying to control her breathing by taking deep breaths; it was then she took notice of her missing mask. The smell from the decaying bodies in the room behind her hit her hard as she decided the fight-or-flight complex running through her head during the struggle caused her to ignore its absence. She decided it must have slipped off during her head's first collision against the wall.

Shaking her head she fought against getting distracted to concentrate on running up the stairs. She could see the sunlight at the top of the stairs and her heart wanted to sing praises. If she managed to get out of this alive she was going to take a few days off to head to a park or beach to enjoy the sun. (She hadn't taken a break in months since work was her mistress).

The sounds of shuffling resounded behind her instantly ausing her to push her feet harder. The sounds of her feet colliding against the cement sounded like music to her ears.

Rounding the corner she grasped the banister and pushed off the wood to get up the few steps…and that's when it hit her _hard._

Akira collided into the wall as something that felt like a bulldozer struck her. Whatever had collided into her caused the wood to break into pieces sending tiny chips everywhere. Strangely as she was shoved against the wall it was like the act happened in slow motion she turned in mid-air to see what had crashed into her and saw the figure of a black-hooded male's hands raised.

After hitting the wall she could feel pain sting in her spine before she bounced off the wall to fall face first on the ground below. During the fall her ankle turned awkwardly and she could have sworn she heard a snap before the fall. Her vision grew hazy as her forehead collided into the ground. Instead of staying down she lifted her head and noticed her vision was hazy but she rolled over to pull herself into a crouching position nonetheless.

If she stayed down she was dead.

Gripping the quinque in her had she tried to strike out at the three figured male in front of her to hopefully hit one of the targets. The girl gasped as the figure easily grabbed ahold of the weapon midair and yanked her forward. She tried pushing her feet into the ground to keep her body from getting dragged but he proved to strong.

Hating herself for her decision Akira let go of the weapon and swiveled around to try fleeing once again. There was no way she could fight against the two Aogiri members in the other room and this new enemy.

Placing her foot on the floor she shouldn't have been surprised when the figure grabbed her right shoulder and flung her to the ground. The only comforting thought was the pain shooting up her leg meaning the bone in her foot hadn't been broken…yet. She hissed in pain and tried rolling over. Mid-roll she saw her quinque flung to the corner and attempted to scramble over on her hands and knees to give her some form of defense against this powerful creature.

Before she could crawl forward two inches the figure grabbed her around the chest and threw her to the side. Every bone and muscle in her body was screaming in pain but she refused to die begging for mercy. She was going to fight until her dying breath.

Akira landed on her back and couldn't help the cry of pain escaping. The pain made her stiffen giving the ghoul an opportunity. She barely had raised herself up on her elbows before a hand was placed on her upper chest to shove her back down. She tried kicking out but the figure sat down on her stomach. Her legs proved useless as she flailed around like a fish out of water. At this point she didn't care about looking like a dignified ice queen she was growling as she struggled relentlessly.

Since her legs were immobilized she began pushing against the male's chest. When that didn't work she began beating him on the head, chest, wherever fists landed. The male sighed in exhaustion, like she was boring him, and grabbed her wrists mid-air to restrain her. Placing her wrists on the ground she realized she had nothing else to use and had been defeated.

She tried rolling him off a few more times before he planted himself down on her stomach harder. As the weight pushed down on her stomach she began coughing as her ribcage felt ready to burst under the pressure.

The male lean over to stare down at her haughtily, his breathing came out laborious. So she had managed to tire him! The thought pleased her but she was disgusted with his close proximity. Refusing to look the monster in the eye she began rolling her head side-to-side to avoid meeting the gaze of her capturer.

"Give it up already, Mado, you're not going anywhere," the mysterious voice muttered gravely.

Her head stopped instantly as her eyes widened and her breathing stopped instantly. The male's warm breath continued to hit her face but it stopped bothering her as a new phobia overcame her.

Turning her head she finally decided to look the ghoul in the eye.

Her heart hammered away.

Sitting atop her with an unreadable expression was Seidou Takizawa. His face was vacant but there was a look of pleasure as he finally held the upper hand after all these years.

Akira's breathing became laborious at this point and she was certain she had more than a few broken bones. It was highly difficult for to talk but she managed to hesitantly whisper, "Taki-Takizawa?"

That brown eye which contrasted the ghoulish red eye narrowed instantly and his black face took on an edge of anger. Gripping her wrists tightly she bit her lip to keep from crying out.

" _Do not ever, ever call me that name again_ ," came that inhuman voice she heard at the Auction.

Her vision grew hazier, as her head spun. "What are you saying Taki-"

He leaned forward to growl in her face, spit came out of his mouth as he snapped, "Are you stupid or trying to annoy me."

He sat back and his smile was demented as he began informing her in a sing-along voice, "You shouldn't do that Mado, people who annoy me don't last long."

"Stop playing games with her and get it over with Owl" addressed the cold voice of Tatara from somewhere behind her former classmate. Seidou- Owl- glanced over his shoulder at the other male.

"Come on Tatara give me a few more minutes I'm _enjoying_ myself here," he countered happily, like a kid at Christmas.

This time Eto came bouncing around the corner, pausing beside Tatara, she pointed a finger at Owl. "Now, now don't backtalk Tatara or you'll get punished."

For some reason that silenced Owl immediately.

Akira fought to keep her eyes open as her head spin while examining the three ghouls surrounding her. Owl looked like a devil about to rip her entrails out for his personal enjoyment, Tatara was an executioner coming in for the kill, while Eto was just there for the laughs.

"Owl get out of the way _now_ ," commanded Tatara practically goading Owl to try arguing with him. There was an awkward silence that followed before Owl began sliding his legs down her legs, he paused for a moment to lean over Akira to whisper, "Trust me Mado you're going to wish you were done by the time he's done with you."

He released her wrists and smiled down at her cruelly. Her body was too bruised and wounded for her to struggle against him when he finally let go. Slowly he got up and stepped to the side to reveal Tatara slowly approaching her.

She stared him down as her last attempt to show defiance but she knew it came off as weak. Despite her tries to look frightening she might as well have been a mouse staring a cobra down before the kill.

Tatara stopped beside her head and gazed down at her in amusement or at least that's what his eyes expressed. "Sleep well Dove," was the last thing she heard in that mocking voice before a boot hit her in the face. She began choking in pain as blood dripped from her nose and mouth.

Before fading into oblivion she saw Tatara stare her down triumphantly as Eto jumped up and down behind him. Owl stood close by her and Akira stared at the tiny smile tugging on his lips in horror as he relished in her _pain._

And with that she passed out.

Author's Rant- Poor Akira has been through hell and now is about to face a whole other version of hell. Sometimes I think I'm too cruel to the characters and readers. Drop a comment if you like or hate and there's more to come.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer- Nobody's mine, _Right?_

Chapter 2- Hell begins

Somewhere along the way Akira opened her eyes to meet the eyes of five ghouls staring her down ruthlessly. A sharp pain ran through her body as the ground below her bounced as they hit something. No, it wasn't a ground, it was a grooved rough surface that smelled of musty crumbles of food and shoes that were well-past proper usage.

Lifting her head a few centimeters she groaned as she watched the five masked faces, of a different variety, shift their heads to look back down at her hatefully. The ghouls were sitting in rows of brown worn out leather styled seats that oddly reminded her of a school bus.

Looking around furthered her suspicions that were affirmed when she noticed the bold black lettering located around the front and sides signaling emergency exits.

Why were they in a shabby school bus? It struck her as oddly funny that ghouls were using a bus as transport. The red eyes continued to stare her down, she had two unknown ghouls seated in front of her wearing the mask of a bee with two antennas (odd since it was rather nonthreatening) and another wore some random blank mask that was boring in appearance. But those red eyes spoke of a deep-seated cruelty that gave the ghoul some personality.

Lowering her head she tried rolling over but the pain proved too difficult. It was then she felt her wrists tied together behind her. She thrust her wrists back and forth in an attempt to break the ties but it was futile. She laid her face against the ground to avoid displaying her frustration. She needed to appear aloof. As an investigator of the CCD if they sensed any trepidation emitted from her- people swore ghouls smelled fear- then they would see her as an easy target for pickings.

Rolling back over she decided to lie on her back to avoid any further injury should a ghoul decide to inflict pain. Pain ran up her spine again but she ignored it. Angling her head back she felt her heart stammer as the figures of Tatara, Eto, and Owl gazed back at her from upside down.

"Right I was captured by Aogiri and we're heading to their base now," Akira thought glumly. She needed to plan out an escape plan immediately, nobody taken by Aogiri lived to tell the tale or…the figures of Haise Sasaki and Seidou Takizawa appeared before her.

"Or they come back wrong," was whispered in her mind.

She had thought briefly about appealing to a human side that might still exist within Takizawa- Owl- but the disinterested look currently sported on his face along with his hunched figure as he gazed out a window told her he didn't care much about helping her out.

That cruel smile replayed in her mind like a broken record. Never in her life did she think someone abhorred her very existence to the level of Owl. All those years together she knew she wasn't ranked high on people he tolerated but never in her life did she imagined him hating her.

A frown formed. For some reason the thought saddened her.

"You're sad because you mourned for him and here he stands wishing you dead in return for your brief sink into depression," the voice mentioned offhandedly, like it was the most obvious answer.

Coughing, her throat was so dry; she almost wished her pride would allow her to beg for a glass of water. But alas it wasn't meant to be. Croaking, she inquired, "Why are we in a school-bus? Thought you guys were too higher-than-thou to use a human contraption."

She drew back at the smothering glare Tatara sent her and she felt the two random ghouls grow tense beside her like they weren't looking forward to what was about to happen. Sentimental was not the words to describe their discomfort.

"Don't flatter yourself into believing we would lower ourselves into using your gaudy everyday contraptions to assist us. If you must know," he crossed his arms here, the bagginess of his trench coat made them appear larger than average, "the only reason we're using this pathetic excuse of a transportation device is because your _injuries_ made it impossible to move you without damaging your insides further."

Akira rolled over to laugh humorlessly, " A ghoul getting sentimental over my wounds, never thought I would live to see the day."

"Keep talking Dove when we get to base you'll regret your words," he swore.

Eto and Owl just gazed at the Dove without interest, their minds elsewhere apparently. Akira looked at Owl hoping to see some trace of regret or unease about her condition and predicament but he just stared her down his face blank.

Akira should have stayed quiet, she knew it was the wisest decision based on the circumstances but she didn't want to go down without getting one last snipe out.

"I look _forward_ to it," she retorted, closing her eyes to get some sleep before facing the monsters awaiting her back at base.

Hours later

Despite her pompous attitude earlier Akira regretted every word she said just like Tatara promised.

Akira opened her eyes to find the cold metal chair she was strapped to lying on its' side. Her wrists and ankles had lost feeling long ago as bruises formed; she lost all sensation in them hours ago.

Hours.

She had been beaten to a pulp for three _hours_.

Or that's what Tatara claimed as he examined an imaginary watch on his wrist.

Based on sheer willpower alone she hadn't cried out or begged for mercy. Instead her mind wandered as a fist was pounding into her stomach or face or whatever to focus on happier times spent with her widowed father in a field picking flowers and chasing cicadas.

In one of the memories she saw herself blow at tiny seeds of a dandelion and watched the tiny white puffs fly away in the wind. In the real world blood continue to spurt out her nose profusely as Tatara continued to beat her senseless.

This torture felt personal and she decided her earlier sarcasm had earned this treatment in his mind.

Storming over he gripped a handle on the chair and yanked her upright to where she was looking at his stomach. Her eyes were bruised with dark circles under them and her mouth tasted funky with the metallic taste of blood dripping down it to drip off her chin. Her cream-colored skirt was speckled with tiny dots of red. Even her vision had red dots from where a cut was inflicted on her forehead.

In her dazed state she was unable to lift her head as nausea threatened to consume her should she move too much. Tatara decided to fix this by gripping her chin to look him directly in the eye. Akira looked at him vacantly, too tired to look defiant.

She knew sickeningly that she was at his mercy now as the two of them were locked up in this endless white room with them as the sole occupants. The rest of the party had disappeared down some dark seedy corridor based on the few seconds she woke up when entering the base.

Her mind raced, she wanted to kick herself.

She should have stayed awake long enough to get coverage on the location of their base and study the layout. She had had woken up to find herself getting strapped to the chair as she was dragged down a hallway. She passed out again shortly after.

When a sharp prick was put into her neck as a hot liquid shot through her she jerked awake gasping, her eyes bulging. Her heart hammered away as her blood turned to fire.

Gasping for air she looked up to find Tatara looking down at her. "Glad you're awake, Dove. I just gave you a rush of adrenaline so you can stay awake long enough to enjoy the interrogation. But first a beating needs to be commenced based on old traditions."

And that's when the first blow was dealt to her stomach. Biting her lip she couldn't help hissing through her teeth as she seriously questioned if her ribs were cracked or something from how much pain she felt.

Afterwards she was punched, kicked, thrown like a ragdoll, hit with objects, slapped, and whatever other creative ideas Tatara came up with.

If Akira managed to make it out of here alive she decided to ignore the CCG's decree of humanity as she determined she was going to grant him a similar treatment tenfold. Except there would be mutilation involved…

He examined her in boredom before deciding he had looked down at her long enough. Releasing her chin, he walked over to a steel table off towards the side that held various objects on it. Tatara took off his jacket to reveal a black muscular tee; he was dripping with sweat from the hours beating her.

"Guess I'll get mutilated long before I cut those damn hands off," she thought crossly. Fate seemed to enjoy ringing her out like a rag today.

Tatara inspected some tools, rolling them around in his hands like they were a work of art, before tossing them aside and rolling the table over to sit on it. Akira stiffened in response.

"Sorry, I'm been having a rough time lately and needed to release some pent up aggression. I'm sure you understand."

Akira stared at him coldly.

He shrugged. "You can glare, you can give me the silent treatment, but I assure you," he held up a pair of pliers and began clicking them, "you'll be talking before long."

Silence continued to meet his goads.

Planting his feet on the white floor- was the whole room white- he walked over to her and continued to snap the pliers. He clutched her forehead and pushed it back before angling the plier near her eyes. "If I have my way the first thing I'm going to do is remove those eyes so you can never look at me like an equal again, Dove."

Akira gulped, her throat burning as dehydration took over. Were they going to starve her as well?

Snatching his hand off like he was touching a bug he tossed the tool back on the table and kicked it away.

Tatara lifted his head to listen to something beyond the walls. Nodding his head he turned back to her. "Looks like you're lucky, Dove, you get a rest period since the king's holding a group meeting in how to deal with you."

Walking over he paused in front of her, Akira's head hung down to stare at her feet in exhaustion. She was too tired to plan any escape route or give him some witty response.

Popping his knuckles he lifted her head before stating ominously, "Nightie Night, Dove."

Darkness overcame her once again.

Hours later

The bleeding eventually stopped at some point during her collapsed state. Her tied up ligaments no longer had any feeling in them. She was certain her ankle was sprained at this point and wondered if any bones were broken.

Her body had a cold sweat and the mixture of blood, sweat, and other variations made her smell putrid.

All in all she knew she looked like shit. But at this point appearances were the least of her concerns.

Akira shifted continuously from a state of awareness to the other end of the spectrum of unconsciousness.

At some point she fell asleep with laborious breathing and numbness pouring through her veins. It was then that she felt objects the size of a breath mint hitting her in the head. The items continued to slam into her head and cheeks painlessly before dropping to the floor.

The tiny objects rolled around on the floor causing Akira to follow their movements just because it gave her something new to look at.

The collisions were painless but she couldn't deny the feeling wasn't annoying.

By the twentieth time of the tiny mints hitting her face, her eyes flashed open. Lifting her head groggily she mustered the energy to glare at the assaulter with the childish responses. Somehow she knew Tatara wouldn't waste his time flinging candy pieces at her to ease his boredom.

Sure enough she somehow or another manage to avoid sighing as Eto sat atop the table kicking her feet back and forth. Her hands were cupped in her lap where the tiny candy pieces rested between them. She raised another one and through the bandages Akira could tell she was squinting.

"Don't move this one well surely hit you between the brow," Eto aimed at Akira.

Pulling her arm back she pushed forward to aim the candy at Akira's brow. Akira stared at Eto deadpanned as the ball hit her in the chin.

Eto tilted her head; Akira stated brazenly at the gesture, "You missed."

The girlish ghoul shrugged before jumping off the table pounding some nonexistent dirt off her robe. Akira decided that she was going to yank those stupid ears off after cutting Tatara's hands off.

She blinked despite herself, here she was bruised, bloody, and hungry but was surprised at what a few hours of a catnap could provide.

But who knew how long her bravado would last with this new opponent.

For all she knew Eto could prove to be a formidable opponent…as the ghoul inspected the tools like she had never seen such things. Lifting each object to gaze at them in the light.

After examining a pair of surgical scissors, she put the item down to skip over to Akira. The girl balanced herself between resting on her toes or the back of her feet. How did a ghoul such as this become an executive without getting murdered?

She found it strange how Tatara tolerated her since he seemed to hate _everyone_ from the short impressions she got in his presence.

The girl chuckled before leaning over to inspect a cut on Akira's lip. The investigator tried leaning back but her back ached too much to perform such a simple task. The gesture sickened her since the tiny ghoul was pretending to show compassion. Any moment now the sting of a punch or a blow to the head was sure to follow.

Neither happened as Eto shifted her hand to the lower portion of Akira's eye to gently run a finger down Akira's bruised cheek. "Oh dear, Tatara did a number on you," Eto said softly.

The investigator looked at Eto with bemusement. Where did the ghoul get off that she could show sudden humanity when she goaded Tatara to inflict these wounds earlier?

Eto continued inspecting Akira's face gliding her fingers softly down the woman's face like she was touching a work of art. Akira hated every minute of it but chose to remain silent. Better to not antagonize Eto when her fingers were now brushing close to her lavender eyes.

The ghoul whistled.

And that's when her gestured turn to violence.

The ghoul's concerned expression shifted to one of malice as her hand shot out to grip Akira's hair tilting the investigator's head back painfully. She grimaced as her chair began tilting back. Leaning forward, Eto declared, "He should have done _more_."

Releasing her grip the investigator's chair fell back, she now was staring at the ceiling awkwardly. Great, she was now in an even more vulnerable position where the ghouls could further damage her stomach and ribs.

Eto began circling her like a shark. "Tell me, Dove, how many ghouls have you personally killed? Ten, twenty, a thousand?"

The ghoul stopped circling to stoop down to stare Akira in the face. "How many families did you tear to pieces in your acts of righteousness _fiend_?"

The girl shot up to begin circling again, "You humans always act so high and mighty like you're the top of the food chain but guess what you're _wrong."_

Anytime Eto got passionate in certain sections Akira picked up how her voice changed. Sasaki's voice changed in pitch once too, the sound was unnerving to say the least.

Eto stopped to point a finger at her accusingly, "But your beliefs are wrong. We, ghouls, are built to hunt you fools down, we relish in crushing your bones, we slurp your blood down like wine, and we feast on your entrails for snacks. For every innocent ghoul you kill we kill a hundred of your kind."

Crossing her arms, Eto stared off into the distance before asking abruptly, "How much ghoul blood have you spilled, human?"

Akira stared at the ceiling, choosing to not answer.

Eto laughed at her silence, "Your silence serves as an answer just as well."

"It's funny how humans kill and maim one another in the same manner, yet _we're_ the bad guys. Last time I checked humans participate in cannibalism in some cultures also."

The ghoul threw her arms up, "But what do I know, I'm just another mindless ghoul whose entire existence is based around slaughtering you humans like animals according to your institution's belief."

"You're not exactly proving us wrong currently," Akira remarked audaciously.

The ghoul had her back turned but she whirled around to clap, "Finally, there's that fire I adore about you. I guess you're well enough to endure the second half of the interrogation!"

The investigator nearly banged her head against the floor in disbelief. Was the ghoul pulling her leg or was she that stupid?

Akira blanched, " _Wh_ at interrogation? The only thing the two of you have done is beat me, knock me out, beat me again, and so forth. I haven't heard any questions yet as far as I can remember. Shouldn't this be called a beating instead of an interrogation?"

"Actually that's not the true term for what this is." Eto began skipping off, arms raised. Akira could hear her sing, "Now's a good time to get Tatara."

"Oh, and what is it?" she continued, staring up at the ceiling hatefully. If she escaped she never wanted to see the color white again.

A metal door- painted white- scraped open with clanks as Eto beckoned Tatara to enter.

Glancing over to Akira the ghoul giggled, "Why torture of course!"

Author's Rant- I'm having more fun writing this story than I should. I'm an awful person sometimes. I will say Akira is getting the short end of the stick but you never know things might change.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Three- Dogs and Puppets

Deep breath in, release calmly.

Take another breath in.

Exhale slowly.

"These monsters want to see you break, don't give them the satisfaction of witnessing you fall," was the morbidly encouraging chant repeated nonstop in Akira's mind as she watched Eto prance towards the only visible door at the other end of the room.

If she could undo these binds she would hobble over to the door and attempt an escape but her ankle had turned a worrisome shade of blue and the throbbing in her calves left little to the imagination on how any flee attempt would end.

Dark purple and blue patches of bruises were speckled across her ligaments. Some of the minor bruises had turned yellow on her pale skin. She couldn't help her fascination on seeing her pale skin look like an angry canvas of wounds. Injuries were expected in their line of work but it was rare to see the 'Ice Queen' look anything less than perfection.

If some of her admirers saw her in this state they would be disturbed.

That is if she made it out in one piece.

Thinning her lips she repeated the chant.

While the words empowered her mentally, her harrowing current dilemma made the chant seem hollow.

Sure she had survived the first round of assaults but who knew what schemes these crafty ghouls had up their sleeve. Nobody at CCG had seen the Aogiri's experimentation on humans coming she had to give them that.

Eto swung the door open, waving to a figure standing at the end of a hall-presumably Tatara- beckoning for the figure to come in. Akira took those few seconds to study the hall's layout to get a sense of the exterior's layout for future reference.

Along the grimy tan walls with splattered water stains she could make out gray pipes running along the upper level of the wall. This building had running water; she could even hear the sounds of water flowing through the pipes throughout the hall. The soothing rhythmic sounds of water alerted her to another solid piece of evidence. There were no sounds of whimpers or pleads for help, in fact, the hall was strangely devoid of any noise belonging to a blood and tissue specimen. Along with this crucial detail, she also picked up on the fact she could not see other rooms located along the wall's layout meaning this was not a dungeon. Therefore it was safe to assume she was possibly the only human on this level along with the two ghouls. She wasn't certain about whether there were other ghouls stationed on this floor but it was safe to assume they were located close-by in case their supervisors needed a hand in dealing with the "Dove."

The new information nagged her because if the ghouls were collecting humans, based on information Sasaki gathered from his brawl with Takizawa, briefly her heart panged painfully, where exactly were they keeping their prisoners?

Then there was the other small issue nagging at her.

She hadn't initially noticed the smell, since her mind was preoccupied with trying to stay conscious during Tatara's beat down, but there was a lingering smell of something antiseptic.

"Bleach?"

Turning her nose towards the ground she took a subtle whiff of air and discovered her inquiry to be correct. Sure enough, though the ghouls had possibly opened some air vents to neutralize the smell, there were still some lingering traces of different disinfectants used to remove odor.

On one hand this surprised her since she was under the impression they would have relished the smell of dead investigators and humans. Mentally she envisioned the ghouls sniffing the air triumphantly before beginning a new round of accusations when interrogating humans.

If the humans weren't being kept on this floor, there were no other telltale signs of rustling or some noise to prove ghouls were nearby, and they kept this room spot-free it must mean this place held some special value to them.

Her apprehension increased when it occurred to her that for somebody claimed to be highly wanted amongst the elite in the Aogiri community they were keeping her presence very hush-hush it would seem.

Surely those supposed revenge-driven ghouls would be tearing down doors trying to reach her but it had been strangely quiet these past few hours. Unless nobody had been notified of her presence as of right now but for all their talk of how everybody wished to see her dead only two ghouls were actively dealing with her.

And they weren't even ghouls she had been in combat with!

Nowhere in Akira's recollection could she recall a time where she had engage these two in battle nor had she conversed with them in the detention center. (She preferred leaving consultations to other investigators since it left a bad taste in her mouth, if her role was to serve as an interrogator then the culprit had a probability chance of 75 percent of making it out alive after dealing with her).

Speaking of overly talkative ghouls why had Eto, an acclaimed executive of Aogiri, dangled all this noteworthy information before her without wishing for anything in return. It was known throughout the CCG that any captured stalwart Aogiri underlings were likely to commit suicide, if it was certain there was no chance for escape, than to provide information on their beloved militant organization. If the subordinates would rather die than reveal the organization's agendas then why was one of their superiors freely spilling the beans with an investigator of their archenemy?

None of it made sense…

Either Eto was under the impression revealing such crucial information about their leadership was irrelevant since the woman was soon to be deceased or there were other plans in work.

Compared to other investigators her hands were pristine when it came to hands drenched in ghoul blood so she wasn't buying their vendetta excuse. True, some of the executives had more than a bone to pick with her but humoring the mentality that she was a preferable target in comparison to someone like Kishou Arima, CCG's renowned death god in the ghoul universe, was downright insulting.

Just what were these ghouls plotting?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the looming appearance of the albino ghoul Tatara filling out the entire doorframe. A cold shadow descended across the room eerily reminding Akira of fables where the entity Death would turn air itself into a suffocating atmosphere. Involuntarily she shivered at the ghoul's correspondence to Death.

The male ghoul's hand was extended back as he clutched onto something. From this angle Akira couldn't make out what his hand was clutching but she couldn't resist the urge to shudder for the briefest of seconds.

It wouldn't shock her to discover he was carrying a blunt object of sorts to inflict her with a new round of bruises. Maybe he was wielding a mace, or a butcher knife, or a pole. Even a rolled up newspaper could leave a few bruises.

Akira breathed out exasperatedly at her sudden change in demeanor for enjoying dark humor in the middle of an operation. (While the CCG had not exactly ordered her to investigate this facility her organization's goal presently was to annihilate the Aogiri Tree so she was still on the job even in these circumstances).

This place was getting to her.

Once the shudder ran its course she straightened her shoulders, as much as possible in this posture, flinching. After going through that motion she began clenching and unclenching her hands to regain some feeling into them. Her sprained ankle had lost all feeling at this point.

Her ribcage screamed at her to stop moving when she twisted her body into an awkward angle, she would have doubled over if not for the restraints.

Although the room smelled of disinfectants her body odor was starting to mix with the chemical smell unpleasantly. The metallic smell of blood along with the tangy scent of her sweat-drenched uniform mixing with bleach was not a pleasant experience for the nose.

Her curiosity was answered when the screeching sounds of metal scraping against the waxed flooring nearly made her eardrums burst. Her skin began to crawl in protest to the horrific noise.

Sensing her discomfort from across the room Tatara applied more pressure into the chair's progression across the room. Trying to ward off her growing hostility she began to close her eyes to recollect herself when her father's words of advice crept in.

A few years after her mother had been killed in the line of duty her father also had to suffer the tragedy of losing a rookie partner. Based on information he tiredly revealed during conversations as he began tucking her into bed he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. For the past several weeks his partner, about twelve years his junior and fresh out of the Academy, was proving problematic by disobeying orders. The boy had considerable talent but his youthful recklessness and hotheaded nature made several detectives frown. The rookie had been assigned to her father because he was the only one with enough patience to deal with the boy's foolhardiness.

The night his partner was killed her father had entered their home sluggishly, bearing the posture of a man with the burden of the world on his shoulders; he dropped his keys on the table with defeat. Akira had been engrossed with watching cartoons turned on by her elderly caretaker and had failed to notice the woman's departure for the evening. The sounds of keys clinking as they fell on the table snapped her back to reality. Turning her head she watched with mounting concern as her father drug his feet over to the brown recliner as he slowly sat himself down to stare off into the distance at nothing.

"Dad?" she asked with concern.

His vacant eyes took on a note of wistfulness before small signs of warmth crept in on hearing his daughter's voice. Seeing the concern in her pink eyes he smiled at her but she recognized the artificiality of the gesture.

The Mado family's famous intuition ability was screaming something was troubling him.

Before she could ask questions he gestured for her to come sit down beside him. Without waiting another minute she quickly got up and walked over to sit down by his right leg. Situating herself into a comfortable position she rested her weight against his leg and stared up at him with wide expectant eyes.

Usually her father only gave the slightest details involving his cases to shield her from the extremity of his work she assumed but tonight he indulged her curiosity. Perhaps it was due to grief or exhaustion but tonight was one of the first times a nine year old Akira heard her father discuss the topic of death after her mother's funeral.

Whenever the subject matter came up his eyes would turn vacant or he would find a way to quickly switch topics but grief was a funny thing since it could change a man's habit easily.

Reaching a bony hand out- her father finally regained some weight, he became so frail after mom died- he began to affectionately stroke her hair. He played with a strand of blonde hair peeking out of her bun that earlier had discouraged him since it wasn't perfectly done but Akira loved it nonetheless since her father put effort into it.

Absentmindedly he stroked her hair, his eyes focused elsewhere, after awhile she turned her attention to some lint on the recliner's footrest and began to pick at the lumps when she decided he wasn't going to talk when his quiet voice interrupted the silence. "I lost a partner today, Akira, and he was a young man, he was just barely ten years older than you."

She stopped picking at the lint immediately, swallowing a thick lump that formed in the back of her throat. Turning her gaze upwards she found her father looking down at her sadly. "While we were out on patrol earlier my intuition kept warning me something was off but the kid refused to budge in his decision the battle was won."

Anger flared up in Akira's small body since her father's intuition was something she took great pride in, his gift made him a wonderful investigator and it annoyed her that the kid did not show him the proper respect but something told her to remain quiet on these criticisms.

"The two of us had been investigating this ghoul known as Candy-Man for several weeks now and we finally found him on the hunt in a school district located downtown," he stated. Akira blinked in surprise; their house was located a few miles away from the downtown region meaning the ghoul had been entering their territory. Before she could voice these concerns out loud, her father continued, "We cornered the ghoul down an alleyway, we clearly had the upper hand as the ghoul cowered in fear begging for his life, and I kept warning the kid never assume the battle is won just yet."

Silence followed his statement and Akira prayed another period of absolute quiet would not follow as her eyes began to grow heavy. Resting her head against her chair she struggled against exhaustion but the internal enemy proved a tough opponent.

Eventually Kureo Mado recounted the ordeal, "Over and over I repeated the lesson we're all taught on our first day 'never turn you back on the enemy' and the fool…"

Akira had jerked awake when he began talking again and gazed at her father with incredulity. The hollow look her father fixed on her along with the tightness of his mouth and forehead made her sink back with trepidation, she didn't like that defeated look, much less on her flesh and blood.

In current times, Akira's eyes snapped open as her father's words echoed in her mind- 'Never underestimate a ghoul or you'll live to regret it.'

Before her stood two ghouls who were clearly powerhouses within the organization she had to keep her wits about her in order to make it out alive.

With a renewed sense of determination Akira took her father's advice to heart as Tatara eyed her current position with mockery. Biting the inside of her cheek she took a deep gulp of air and fixed him with a glare composed of every feeling of detestation, annoyance, and resentment she could muster.

She couldn't move? Fine, but she wanted him to know that should she escape he would live to regret it.

If Tatara understood the hidden meaning in the look she sent him he didn't express it as he stalked closer, apparently to captivated with relishing the sound of screeching metal scraping across the floor to sense the investigator's murderous intentions.

In the background Eto watched the scene quietly something that disconcerted Akira. She had grown use to Eto's childish mannerisms so seeing the ghoul being abnormally quiet raised her suspicions instantly.

Akira's eyes narrowed.

She jumped when Tatara picked his chair off the ground to slam the object down a few feet from her slumped figure. The investigator's attention returned to the male ghoul, the target closest in proximity and possibly the greater threat. While Tatara possessed an aura of malice that could instantly silence the most brave of heart it was clear Eto was the charismatic executive between the two.

Or this was the conclusion she had reached after weighing her options on their authority styles, but she had to ponder how the cold, silent Tatara tolerated the hyperactive childlike ghoul. Both ghouls were like two sides of a coin: Tatara was the tall menacing figurehead who could kill with a single look while Eto was an unhinged jokester who drifted between the personas of a naïve child and a ruthless killer.

Both were equally threatening but it was somewhat amusing to imagine Tatara enjoying his partnership with the much shorter, hyperactive ghoul.

Brushing some imaginary dust off the seat he began circling the chair inspecting it for further disappointments. With a haggard breath Akira blew a loose strand of hair matted to her forehead off.

What she wouldn't give to pry a hand loose and smack him across his haughty face. If only she had her qunique on her.

Before she left the facility she had to locate her father's weapon. If there was a single dent or scratch on the weapon she would massacre the culprit and use their skeleton to craft a new one as a replacement.

Upon hearing her brief sigh of exasperation he folded his hands behind his back and slowly turned around to look down at her as though he had just realized she was there.

While the red mask partially covered his expression Akira was certain the ghoul was sneering based on the way his eyes lit up.

"Laugh while you can ghoul," Akira's mind seethed.

He walked around the chair and began to sit himself but thought better about it as he stopped suddenly. Akira rested her head against the floor and mentally began preparing herself for the new round of physical torture she was about to be subjected to.

The ghoul stood back up and began walking over to her, his hands still folded behind his back. It was proving strenuous for her to turn her head as she wanted nothing more than to stare at those polished black combat boots he was wearing than to see those gloating red eyes but she refused to give him the impression she was breaking. When his boots came into view to block out the background she narrowed her eyes and turned her chin up at him defiantly looking him dead in the eyes.

The two opponents measured each other quietly, each sizing the other up, or that was how Akira preferred to look at it. In all likelihood she probably looked like a mangled dog baring its fangs before a mighty wolf. The wolf appeared to be determining whether she had some plan up her sleeve.

Her skin crawled when she notice those red eyes trail up and down her body.

Thankfully, he looked equally disgusted as she noticed his gaze grow darker the longer he had to endure her presence. While he had chosen a spot close enough for discomfort the investigator didn't fail to notice how he quickly scooted back a few centimeters once he had settle down like the atmosphere around her was toxic.

In different circumstances, for example the two of them being average human beings, in this scenario she would be a normal human unspecialized in killing ghouls, she would be highly insulted by his blatant revulsion of her. However, these were not normal circumstances, so his disgust was oddly comforting since it meant he didn't have other ideas in mind.

The woman nearly bared her teeth as she wondered what his intentions were. As long as he didn't grow frisky she could play along with their game of wallop the investigator since she needed to gather some information.

Said information relating to the location of their hideout and whether they were still conducting human experiments. Once this material was gathered Aogiri Tree would suffer a major blow if they were taken by surprise in the near future.

All she had to do was silently slip away while their attention was focused elsewhere…

Her mind began formulating possible ways to sidetrack the ghouls. Some of her ideas were creative like luring the ghouls away by thinking they were under attack, others were not quite as inventive.

An imaginary scenario where she screamed "Fire" and all the ghouls ran out screaming nearly made the investigator chortle but the sounds of Tatara rotating the bone in his wrist reminded her of the severity of her current situation.

Once he had reached the decision she was still unthreatening in her current state he visibly relaxed, his shoulders loosened and the stiffness in his neck disappeared. The gesture astonished her after his earlier actions when it occurred to her she had been practically comatose so if he showed any clear signs of ambiguity she would have been unawares.

If the ghoul showed small signs of unrest in her presence it meant the ghouls were on high alert about something. Perhaps they worried she had found a way to contact CCG which meant reinforcements were on the way?

Either way his unease pleased her she pocketed this information away for future use if she needed to pull a wild card out to help her in a time of need.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the ghoul's deep sinister voice quietly addressing her, "How fortunate to see you alive and well, Dove. If you hadn't been so uncooperative earlier then things would not have turned ugly but I must admit sleep has rekindled some fire in those eyes."

Once again his words sounded pleasant but his tone suggested otherwise. Rolling her eyes Akira gave him an incredulous look. Was he attempting to use some poorly executed reverse psychology? She nearly scoffed at the ridiculousness of the entire situation as he made a derisory attempt at flattery like an old-fashioned caller. While her body may be bruised her tenacity was still intact.

"Really? Well if I knew a gentleman was coming to pay me a visit then I would have freshen up and attempted to be charming but unfortunately some psychopath seems to have knocked me senseless and left me in this shabby state so you'll just have to make do with my sloppiness."

She fixed a wicked gaze on him as she added scornfully, "Can you believe the man didn't even ask whether I would like to have a seat before running off?"

Angling her head awkwardly she glowered at Tatara challengingly. It didn't surprise her when he simply gazed back at her expressionlessly.

Funny how at a time like this her mind began to ponder over whether the ghoul was capable of feeling anything remotely human beyond irritation and hatred. Were ghouls capable of love, compassion, understanding, or any form of sentiment showing they felt connection with their fellow creatures?

Eto's earlier rant resounded in her mind but once again she was left with doubts since Eto's rant was driven by anger. The only emotions she had ever seen ghouls display were elation over a successful kill or absolute detestation towards the CCG.

"That's not true," a voice whispered in the back of her mind. Akira was reminded of Naki's breakdown over losing his comrades during the battle. Perhaps ghouls could feel some kinship with one another beyond those feelings associated between starving animals in a hunting pack needing to feed.

Sighing irritably Tatara turned around and strolled over to the table containing the instruments, he reached out and hovered his hand above a few objects with sharp edges before deciding against it. His shadow was cast over Akira, while it pleased her to have some refuge from the blinding light she was once again struck with the discomfort on how it felt like she was trapped in the suffocating presence of death.

The ghoul slowly turned back to face her but it didn't escape her attentiveness how his eyes continued to linger longingly on a scalpel.

In the background Eto continued to watch their interactions cryptically.

This whole situation was nightmarish but she had to admit it was a slight stroke of luck the talkative Eto had finally chosen to remain silent.

Maybe miracles do happen…

Tatara sauntered over to his chair and seated himself down regally, like a king about to have court. The sight made Akira nauseous.

"You're a pest," Tatara stated out loud, "but even I have to admit your tenacity is somewhat admirable or perhaps it's sheer stupidity that makes you remarkable, Dove."

Could the ghoul not last ten seconds without finding some means of insulting her?

Now their conversation had gone from a forced civility to a roundabout game of insults seen stereotypically on playgrounds. She paused in her reflection to consider her past disagreements with Seidou Takizawa and decided no matter the species people were bound to resort to childish name-calling at some point.

Takizawa's chilling smile from their second reunion appeared amongst the tumultuous thoughts occurring in her sea of doubts; she pushed those painful waves of nostalgia aside to concentrate on finding a way out.

Akira crinkled her nose, "I highly doubt you were called upon to engage in a childish game of insults with me so let's cut to the chase."

The moment the words left her lips she wished she could have taken them back by the sheer jeering look expressed in those cruel eyes. Every muscle ached in protest as she cringed upon the unpleasant caressing tone he developed when admitting snidely, "Who would have thought you preferred my methods of obtaining information, Dove, are you a glutton for punishment?"

The investigator sat on the floor shell-shocked in his sudden change in demeanor and the delicious look in his eyes as he savored her horror. For a moment she forgot to breathe as sickness threatened to consume her. Was he finding carnal enticement in her discomfort?

The thought alone nearly made her gag.

A bolt of pain ran up Akira's arms when she attempted to clench her fists, if she weren't bound down she would have leapt across the tiny margin of space to gouge his eyes out. Unfortunately, she was without a weapon and her body was too exhausted from the previous beat downs to withstand another vicious battle so she was left with her wits alone.

Urging herself to cool down she carefully masked her face into a blank slate. Right now he was toying with his prey but her intuition was certain he found no enjoyment in the thoughts of engaging in sexual relations with a human since he had previously made it clear his viewpoints on humanity in general.

No, this ghoul was all about action, he was not the brains within the organization that role fell to someone else.

While she maintained a look of boredom internally she smirked since her brain was one of her strongest weapons. Many of her comrades downplayed their intellect to focus on overpowering their opponents through strength alone. In her opinion this was a regrettable decision since anybody with a merit of talent as a ghoul investigator knew a planned strategy lead to more successful outcomes than simply bludgeoning a ghoul.

Parting her lips she blew a strand of hair off her face and decided to focus her efforts on misleading the ghouls into thinking she was a cooperative captive. Although she had to be cautious in how much she "cooperated" otherwise they would easily smell the deceit reeking off her.

Raising a hand Tatara waved the comment away, stating dismissively, "Actually don't answer that."

Her façade of boredom dropped momentarily in disgust on his insinuation she had a fetish for masochism. Ignoring the pounding in her head she coolly smirked at him and decided to twist the lure on him.

"Not a problem I don't feel like sharing personal interests with an utter stranger under these circumstances," Akira snidely remarked.

"Hmm."

His complete lack of regard for the bait aggravated her but somehow she wasn't surprised. Without a doubt he was not the wisest one in the organization but he was certainly smarter than the average ghoul.

Resting her warm cheek against the cool floor Akira waited for the ghoul to resume the conversation. "Please don't tell me I'm getting a fever," she thought troublingly. A small droplet of sweat mockingly ran down her forehead before sliding onto the floor. Flicking her gaze downward briefly she disturbingly found small puddles of clear liquid mixing with ruby droplets pouring out of her.

Removing his hands from within his sleeves the male began tapping his fingers against his elbows as he quietly contemplated something.

"While it aggravates me to admit my knowledge of your organization's chain of command is limited I have learned from my subordinates you were recently promoted correct?"

Now where did that come from?

Blinking once and then twice Akira stared at the ghoul dumbfounded, were they discussing the weather beforehand or did the ghoul just turn the conversation into something usually heard in a workplace?

Imagining Tatara in a business suit inquiring about the organization's costs not adding up was a rather unnerving picture Akira did not wish to visualize since the last time she saw him he was wearing a trench coat painted in splattered red tones of her blood. (Thankfully the ghoul had changed his coat).

"Yes," she said hesitantly.

His tone grew cold, "Was this promotion received after the Auction Raid?"

"Yes?"

"Based on information leaked by the moles you have a rather impressive legacy at CCG, the daughter of two former topknot investigators who battled our king along with graduating the first of your class from the Academy." Akira detected a faint hint of mockery in his words on her class placement but he quickly resumed talking before she could comment on it. "Now look at you, only 24 and already a high-ranking member of the staff, your parents were surely thrilled."

The bastard was taunting her since his moles had apparently given him the gist of her parents' murderers both being members of his organization. He was luring her into an argument just to rile a few feathers and make her lose the limited composure she had left.

Thinning her lips she decided to not take the bait and instead chose to sweetly respond with, "I'm sure they are after all I'm continuing in their footsteps and have managed to kill a high percentage of ghouls within such a short amount of time."

A vicious smile formed on her lips as she added, "Guess you could say my parents can rest easy knowing I'm here to avenge them."

His shoulders stiffened for a few seconds before he relaxed in posture upon her second declaration.

"Hardly, you barely managed to avoid getting your head chopped off earlier, I think it's safe for me to say you would barely last a minute if our king chose to eliminate you," he reminded her.

The killing One-Eye Owl's reappearance had been a sign of great foreboding three years ago when the mission's conclusion had been received with mixed opinions. Some might claim the CCG had won but deep down everyone knew the mission had been a failure with the endless lists of investigators' fatalities and reported missing.

During one of the several reflection meetings held after a picture of the One-Eye Owl was shown before the staff and while she had put on a brave face secretly she prayed to never have to see that thing again.

SSS rated ghoul of the Aogiri Tree was a monster beyond comprehension.

Even now Akira could feel her heart pace quicken as she viewed the image of the colossus ghoul with the large black sclera focused on tearing the investigators present to ribbons.

As an investigator she was talented but fighting against an enemy of that proportion and unbelievable strength she secretly had doubts about her capabilities.

But Tatara didn't have to know that, she had another trump card to play.

The smile on her face grew wider, "True, in my current state I could hardly lift a finger against your famous ruler but you seem to have forgotten I have Yotsume in my grasp and that meek girl doesn't look like the type to last long in imprisonment."

Technically the girl was in Sasaki's hands but these monsters didn't have to know this small technicality. Hopefully Aogiri's infiltrators had not delved into this information just yet.

Settling back down against the floor Akira waited for the ghoul to retaliate with some form of violence but was stunned when all Tatara did was shrug his shoulders. "What does it matter, the girl is a lost cause since she disobeyed my orders so consider it a victory on your side Dove since I do not tolerate insubordination."

This wasn't the answer she expected, also somehow the way he phrased victory left Akira with the impression it was anything but a victory for the CCG. "You do realize once the squads reach a collective agreement that we've obtained all the intelligence we can acquire from her she will possibly be executed. Does this not bother you?"

Without any hesitation he responded bluntly, "No."

She should have inquired about the ghoul's supposable act of disobedience for review later but her attention was focused on his quick dismissal of a young ghoul.

Drawing back Akira looked at the white-haired ghoul like someone examining a creature beyond comprehension. Were ghouls incapable of camaraderie? Surely this monster must have some form of regret over losing what appeared to have been a respectable member of his organization.

For some incomprehensible reason Akira wanted to explore this topic further. "I find this astonishing so what you're saying is that anybody who defies your orders is automatically considered expendable?"

"It really isn't that astonishing when you think about it, any organization with a pinnacle of power will last only as long as its' base continues to follow orders upholding the organization's cause."

"So you want a congregation of blind followers without any cognizance of their own existence beyond the Aogiri's doctrines?"

"Precisely."

Shaking her head, Akira scoffed, "Sounds like Aogiri Tree is nothing more than a dictatorship with a bunch of dogs blindly following their masters' orders."

A small pulsing vein appeared on the side of Tatara's neck and his tone grew darker. "I could say the same for your lot, Dove."

"At least we don't indiscriminately murder our subordinates for choosing to ignore bad orders from time to time," she cried out unabashed.

"One of the many blemishes in the CCG's ideologies," Tatara countered, he began to examine his glove like it was a far more interesting subject than her arguments. Just for further aggravation purposes he pretended to be wiping smudges off the leather material.

She grimaced slightly when tiny red flecks fell off the dark material and questioned whose blood remained on that glove. Snarling, she launched back into the discussion as she noticed him discreetly watching her facial expressions as the tiny flecks chipped off. Once again he was toying with her like a puppet master controlling the strings.

The bastard was testing to see what got a reaction out of her.

"What? You're telling me an organization should solely be composed of mindless puppets that exist only for the sake of following orders? And yet we're the ones with deficiencies, sorry I fail to see the rationality in your logic."

While it was more ideological to have a strong support system where everyone worked together without personal feelings jeopardizing a mission she would never agree with Tatara's militant mentality that subordinates should be nothing more than lifeless puppets existing only to obey. It was important to have disagreements occur based on differences in personality or work ethics since these encounters were instrumental and taught lessons on how to reach a conciliation and strengthen a group's cause.

Many investigators learned to acknowledge their partners' differences and use their partners' strengths to make up for their own personal weaknesses. Learning to compromise was good practice for new squads.

Thinking about all those investigators blindly agreeing to whatever orders were given was not comforting as she remember hearing historical accounts of warriors suffering from severe guilt over innocent casualties in time of warfare that could have been prevented if someone had stood up and said enough.

A shudder ran down Akira's spine as she imagined a world composed of nothing but blank faced humans simply moving about the day waiting for somebody to order them around just to give their life purpose. In this imaginary world everyone looked and acted alike so individuality was nonexistent.

The female investigator found she could never fathom a world like that since one of the things that made life so precious were humans embracing their individuality. Sitting around with people who thought and acted just like you didn't appease to her.

"Dogs exist to follow their master's command, if they cannot do such then they should be put down. An organization composed of renegades mouthing off continuously can never hope to accomplish anything so your arguments are invalid and quite frankly boring," were the smooth crisp words of the male ghoul. Even though she hated the ghoul down to bottomless pit of his soul- if he had one- she deplorably had to admit he was quite masterful on swaying his opponents to agree to his power of persuasion.

While he was undeniably good at persuading his opponents to agree to his causes, through forceful means indefinitely, he failed to realize the irony of his situation. Surely he was not so _blind_ to see how he was a living hypocrisy!

The female started to laugh at the absurdity of his comment causing the male ghoul to grow suspicious. "Care to tell me what's so funny, Dove?"

She continued to laugh without restraint since she could not believe how thickheaded someone could be. How could he not realize the contradiction in his comment!?

Tatara shot up instantly, his presence blocking out the warm light entirely leaving Akira in nothing but shadows.

Akira continued to giggle even with the scowling ghoul looming over her threateningly. In the background Eto remained silent, still silently observing, but Akira took notice on how the tiny ghoul had tensed when Tatara shot up.

Apparently Tatara did not lose his composure often but once he did it was enough to put his comrades on high alert.

"I must say I'm impressed Tatara, people often say I'm unmindful when it comes to noticing things around me but you have me beat." Her words hardly made any sense but she found that explaining things in a comprehendible manner was proving taxing.

As though to further prove her point her stomach began rumbling painfully. But alarmingly there was another type of pain emerging alongside the hunger that was twice as painful.

This pain was enough to make all the nerves in Akira's brains explode.

The ghoul glared down his nose at her silently goading her to continue despite the unspoken threat hanging in the air should she do such.

Akira rolled her shoulders, trying to concentrate on how to explain the hilarity of the situation as exhaustion began to creep back in. Curses why did she suddenly feel more fatigued when she took notice of her hunger? "Are you so blind that you fail to realize you try to make yourself sound like one of the masters in charge when in reality you're nothing more than a highly train mutt of the One-Eyed King?"

Shrugging, Akira stated impressed, "In fact, you're worse than the hoodlums at the bottom of the totem pole since they're not the ones having to bark orders at others in the hopes for a treat. By treat I mean not having to fear an immediate execution should they displease the king. So please continue telling me how dogs deserve to die or whatever nonsense pleases you since the king seems to have taken your mindfulness away years ago after spending all that quality time training you."

Perhaps it was madness creeping in or the fact that Akira just now realized her earlier mistake by shifting around in her seat which caused pain to shoot out from her injured ribs. The pain had not registered at first since she was sore and hungry but this pain was definitely starting to increase.

Suddenly she rapidly picked up on her lightheadedness all at once and how dots were appearing in her vision. If she didn't pass out from the pain soon she was probably going to thanks to Tatara who looked ready to murder her.

A wise investigator would have stopped provoking their captor if stuck in a similar position but reason was lost to Akira as she wanted to slip off into the darkness for once having the last laugh.

So without hesitation Akira stared Tatara straight in the eyes and responded coolly, "Woof."

There wasn't a doubt in her mind she would suffer for that slight and sure enough when it came she wasn't dissatisfied.

But it would be a lie if she admitted that the blow was nothing more than a tiny sting.

Moving faster than her human eye could detect Tatara raced forward to grab ahold of her left shoulder and yank her off the floor. Dizziness swam over her from the motion.

Before she had time to register she was sitting upright again a hard blow was struck across her cheek. Her head snapped to the side from the impact, it wouldn't be shocking to find an angry handprint across the throbbing area later.

A ghoul of his power level could easily have decapitated her during the blow so he had held back but this did little to comfort her.

Why were they so intent on keeping her alive?

The woman gasped as tiny rivulets of blood dripped from her nose, her eyes began to sting as water welled up but she refuse to cry before this beast. Slowly she began to turn her head to locate him, all the while ignoring how her neck popped, and her eyes fell upon him aiming his elbow back to prepare punching her.

No, they didn't want her dead, but they had no problem with her being left in a half-dead state.

Quickly his fist came soaring towards her but before he could connect the blow a tiny hand shot out and gripped Tatara on the wrist. The usually chipper voice of Eto was now dark as she ominously commanded, "That's enough, Tatara, why not leave the rest to me since our king still has his uses for her."

Akira coughed as a few ruby droplets fell into her mouth; she stifled a cry as she angled her head to spit the red saliva away from her. Sadly the small wad of spit missed Tatara by inches but she was thrilled to watch him look down at the wad before he tersely tilted his head up to glower at her.

The tiny ghoul continued to keep him detained but Akira noticed his fists shaking as he fought to contain himself.

Laying her head against her shoulder she chuckled woozily.

The red-hooded female continued to focus on her colleague, as he looked ready to tear the investigator's limbs off. Without turning his gaze away he coldly admitted, "Fine, I'll leave you to settle things for the time being."

Dropping his arm he straightened himself up to his full height, brusquely announcing, "Actually I have other matters the king wishes me to attend to so I'll take my leave for now."

There was a warning hanging in the air that if Eto was not around after he finished his tasks they would resume this topic. Akira's vision continued to grow fuzzy as dots began circling around the perimeters of her vision. Just how hard had he hit her?

"Very well then," Eto removed her hand, "take care, Tatara, I'll be sure to join you afterwards."

For the first time the male ghoul turned to give his smaller comrade a reproving look but her attention was now focused on Akira. Curtly he nodded his head before silently swinging around and floating across the room like a shadow.

Before he stalked out he called out over his shoulder, "Don't forget Eto you were given other business to attend to as well."

The female circled her hand in the air her eyes never leaving Akira's frame as he walked out, closing the door behind him.

There were no sounds of a lock being turned which caused Akira's heart to soar.

Finally, a positive development!

Once he was out of sight Akira noticed she had been holding her breath, she quickly released it praying Eto hadn't noticed. Eto began humming to herself as she began to situate the seat according to her own preferences.

Unlike Tatara's manner of expertise, Eto seemed to find enjoyment in talking to her victims and showed no discomfort on being in the presence of a member of the CCG. As though to further prove her lack of intimidation she pulled the chair closer to Akira and plopped herself down continuing her mindless hum.

Instead of Tatara's strict businesslike professionalism, Eto chose to stretch her legs out before her and start kicking them up and down. She gripped the seat beneath her fingers and giggled as she pointed her toes up to the ceiling.

Shaking her head Akira closed her eyes and quietly forbid herself from sleeping in the presence of this ghoul. Who knew what body parts would be missing if she let her guard down.

The woman nearly jumped when Eto girlishly chuckled, lowering her feet daintily. Clasping her hands together Eto leaned forward tilting her head to whisper sweetly, "Though I consider him a dear friend even I have to admit he's too stiff for his own good."

Leaning her head back Akira absently mumbled, "If that's what you want to call it."

"I swear on a good day he's a lot of fun to be around," Eto promised in a tone so sweet and sincere you almost wanted to believe her. But Akira was reminded of the ghoul's earlier mood swings and tensed.

Wearily, Akira groaned, "Now what do _you_ want?"

Eto chuckled, "Oh I want many things my dear investigator."

Rolling her eyes, Akira shrugged, biting down on her lip to keep a hiss of pain from escaping. "Sorry to say I don't have much on me in this state."

The tiny ghoul's devious smile was noticeable even with the hundreds of bandages hiding her face it made Akira uncomfortable. Just what was beneath those bandages that were so awful the ghoul refused to be without them?

"Trust me what I want is nothing tangible, Akira," she purred.

Hearing the ghoul say her name so disgustingly affectionate made her feel even more nauseous. "And just what might that be?"

The grin widened unnaturally, a crazy tilt of the lips which spread from ear to ear. "Don't misunderstand I love worldly possessions but the thing which interests me most that money can't buy," she stopped to lean in closer, Akira recoiled but had nowhere to go so she looked into those vacant holes fiercely.

Swallowing tensely, Akira continued to stare stanchly as Eto finished with, "are secrets."

Author's Note- Dang, between multiple interviews and two weddings this update continued to be pushed back but finally it's here. I know this is another slow chapter but it should be considered as rising action in relation to plot development. Good news though Takizawa will return soon but you all don't get to know when.

Trigger Warning- There has been several forms of torture used between the ghouls on Akira already but one form of torture I refuse to use will be rape. I felt this needed to be said so readers will not fret over how far Aogiri will go on breaking the young woman. Unfortunately many stories will include this element since it's a vicious act used to break someone but I refuse to use the plot device in this story. There are millions of ways to torture someone and threats of rape are already powerful tools without including the act itself. So anyone with concerns on whether sexual violence shall be used does not have to worry on rape being included in the story.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Four- Hickory Dickory Dock

"And thus the spider beckoned," were the clipped thoughts of the trapped investigator coolly accessing the childish ghoul quietly awaiting a response.

Chillingly a wicked smile was visible under those hundreds of wrappings. Hunching her shoulders back Akira encouraged herself not to make her incredulity evident.

Which was easier said than done.

Overhead the lights flickered on and off. Neither woman paid the cheap lighting any regard until Akira heard a buzzing sound collide into the glass fixture. Sure enough upon closer inspection Akira realized a tiny fly had managed to slip into the room and was struggling to reach the bulb shielded behind a glass barrier.

The tiny insect struggled valiantly but its efforts proved useless. For one grave moment Akira compared her dilemma to the insect.

A preposterous comparison but Akira numbly realized there were small similarities in their situations.

Squaring her shoulders back even further she put forth her own valiant effort to look intimidating. But the sounds of the tiny bug colliding against the glass ceiling were eerie reminders of a struggle against a claimed unstoppable foe.

The One-Eyed King.

Somewhere in this facility the monster was plotting ways to use her capture to his advantage obviously but in the meantime let's send out a pre-teen to chat the enemy to death!

If their plan was to get under her skin until she cracked they were aggravatingly proving successful.

As though sensing the investigator's suspicion, despite the cool façade Akira tried to effortlessly portray, Eto began humming another strange foreign tune. Likely, it was not difficult to deduce from the captured woman's stiff posturing that she was unnerved by the ghoul's wish to exchange in girlish chatter.

She halted her thoughts on bodily harming the young ghoul as she noticed the cheery tune had a mournful tone overshadowing the lyrics as Eto softly sang. It was hard to hear the words but the lyrics related to a lost girl being unable to find her way home. When Eto realized she had the woman's undivided attention she quickly clamped her mouth shut.

"Singing helps me think, I'm sure you've heard some nursery rhymes growing up Miss Dove?"

Clenching her hands systemically to recirculate blood flow she shrugged, "There were some songs my mom used to sing to me in adolescence before your king killed her."

Dauntingly Akira allowed the longtime concealed hatred seep into her words. Eto tapped her fingers against the steel before shrugging a shoulder, "The king's choices are not for me to question since I am nothing more than a loyal subject for him to command."

Akira sneered. "Never thought I would hear ghouls having such romantic notions of loyalty towards their own kind. Haven't there been credible reports of ghoul cannibalism towards runts?"

Eto stopped her rhythmic tapping to point a finger accusingly; her voice devoid of any warmth as she threatened, "Careful human while my tolerance level for insults directed at ghouls is higher than average nonetheless I have no problem permanently silencing you."

Seems her insults got under Eto's skin, the investigator smirked tauntingly responding with, "Can't handle a taste of reality? You're beasts in human form just accept it already."

Gripping the chair Eto leaned forward to jeer, "Which should I take first: your tongue or your spirit? Either one sounds promising!"

The woman released an unladylike snort as she wiped her nose on her shirt. "Neither since I'm going to turn you into a new qunique for my growing collection. How do you feel about being used on your subordinates, Eto?"

A long silence followed Akira's question. The awkward silence left her deliberating whether the ghoul would follow through with her threat and remove Akira's tongue. Her concerns were dispersed by a barking laugh emitted from the ghoul seated before her. Every muscle in her body stiffened despite protests at the callous sound.

"Such viciousness! And to think I would hear such nastiness from a human!" Eto started smacking the chair causing the floor to quake. Akira flicked a glance to the door to see whether anyone would come investigate. She released a shaky breath when no one burst in to see who was laughing mad.

She was alarmed when the laughter died instantly leaving the room in silence except for the buzzing wings of the fly as it continued its vain struggle. A wave of fear washed over Akira undesirably, those dark pools of emptiness creeping closer as Eto asked psychotically, "Luckily I'm not the best judge of character when it comes to that subject matter."

The childish ghoul gazed at the woman with a twisted grin as she whispered, "Perhaps you should ask someone with more expertise in that area? Say Takizawa?"

Akira went numb. "What?"

Reaching up to smooth back one of the cat ears Eto innocently replied, "Wasn't Owl a former colleague of yours? Seeing your traumatized face at the little arranged reunion was quite entertaining."

Turning her attention to the fabric over her knees Eto began brushing off invisible lint, "When it comes to being modified into a weapon to wield against his former comrades he has superior knowledge wouldn't you agree?"

The ghoul discarded a wad of lint. Tilting her head she inquired cutely, "Give me some disclosure: How does it feel to personally witness your friend being turned into a weapon of destruction, Dove?"

Red-hot anger exploded in Akira's chest at the cruel undertones blatant in Eto's statement. Akira lurched forward in her chair, despite the restraints, in an effort to reach the ghoul. She tried to sever the ropes but her valiant efforts proved futile.

The human bared her teeth tilting forward as close as possible to snarl in Eto's face, "When I manage to break free, and trust me it's coming, I'll make sure to come after you first."

Spreading her arms wide, Eto prompted with her chin for Akira to land a punch. Akira rocked from side-to-side in an effort to break free pleasing the ghoul. " _I'll be waiting_ ," came that distorted voice, "alas I have little to fear since you've been subdued and," Eto sniffed the air, gagging, "the smell of carrion clings to you."

"Should I suggest for one of the female ghouls to bathe you/'

Akira's chaffed lips drew back further as she released a low snarl. Hissing she turned away sullenly.

"Somehow our little chat delved into topics of controversy so why don't we focus on other subject matters of less consequential importance?" Eto lifted a leg to rest her hands on top of her knee furthering Akira's annoyance.

Rolling her eyes Akira continued glaring at the shadows tucked away in a corner where the light didn't reach. Her mind begged for her to shuffle over there to get away from the blinding light.

"Didn't peg you for the type to engage in the juvenile silence treatment," Eto clucked her tongue disapprovingly while wiggling her toes. Akira suspected she did the motion just to aggravate her further.

Still glaring at that dark space Akira chipped out between clenched teeth with fake gentility, " Preferably it would prove beneficial in these circumstances for me to refrain from speaking or else I might divulge my genuine opinions. Wouldn't want to hurt your precious feelings."

Eto shrugged, " Dove I don't think you realize that you're practically an open book- you hate me with every fiber of your being and probably imagined ten ways to slay me while we've chatted. Am I right?"

Glowering Akira shot Eto a piercing look refusing to admit Eto was spot-on in her predictions.

"Instead of sitting here wasting time by arguing amongst ourselves why don't we find some shared interest to prove our species can coalesce together without bloodshed." She glanced at an imaginary watch on her wrist, "It's been a long time since I've had a break since some organization manages to increase my workload."

A criticizing gaze followed her statement.

"Poor baby. I can't believe they're mean enough to encourage you to share the workload. How _barbaric_ ," Akira huffed, sliding down in her seat to remove friction on her numb posterior.

The ghoul cracked a stint in her neck admitting, "It's more difficult than you imagine."

Sighing Akira hung her head exhaling wearily. The tiny ghoul was grating on her nerves with her attempts to exchange pleasantries.

Mentally Akira swore she would fling herself out the nearest window if Eto began inquiring about beauty application techniques. No, she would willingly bulldoze through the wall and welcome any death that awaited her since looking for a window would take precious time.

Then again, based on the small information she gathered on the infrastructure, they were possibly underground… why was she focusing on committing suicide when she should be probing the ghoul for valuable information!

Scoffing Akira raked her eyes slowly down the ghoul's figure and determined the ghoul probably held little interest in material things such as cosmetics and fashion.

Thinking back, one of her colleagues had to dispatch a wanted ghoul in a convenience store caught in the act of purchasing cosmetics. His wife had decided to use him as an escort one evening and the investigator was uncomfortably surprised to see his target flouncing around the store in the disguise of a stylish college student. The ghoul tended to wear cheap Halloween costumes as a gimmick of being a low-budget actress trying to make it big.

Imagine the victims' shock when they were lured into abandoned showbiz buildings for a quick snack.

It was known that ghouls tended to lead double lives. It wouldn't be astounding for Eto to masquerade as a human to endorse her organization's agendas. Perhaps Eto was sent as a scout into the human community to gather information?

The thought brought little comfort.

She mockingly imagined a scenario where Eto was a formidable businesswoman while Tatara secretly spent free time baking cookies. Surprisingly she found one side of her mouth lifting into a crooked smile.

Her joyful imagination was rapidly crushed as she glean over the certainty of Takizawa's newfound role being his double life now. From human to mindless ghoul desperately seeking his next meal- how horrific.

Due to his species change humans would no longer welcome the once guileless young man with open arms. Therefore he was trapped in the world of ghouls with little hope of escape. The thought saddened her.

Gradually she found it harder to rebuff her qualms on his former colleagues turning their backs on him. Surely Special Class Investigator Houji, who was Takizawa's former partner, would not turn away the troubled young man?

Despite her wishful thinking Akira doubted the older members would easily forsake their age-old prejudices since they were programmed to see any ghoul as a threat to humanity.

If there was a way to save her former classmate from his hellish fate what future awaited him?

Tatara's criticism of CCG's allowance of free-thinking briefly extinguished Akira's hopes that Takizawa was internally struggling to break free of Aogiri's hold. However, she lifted her head up, there were contradictions in Tatara's claims since Takizawa still lived to tell the tale.

Shaking her head she reminded herself the Takizawa she knew was gone and replaced with the ghoul identity Owl. Yet, even with Owl's orders to exterminate investigators he ceased in his attacks at her appearance. Haise even claimed the ghoul had lost all cognizance in his bloodlust but he showed recognition of remembering her. If Owl's role was to serve as an executer for high-ranking officials of CCG why had he fled from the battle when there were two worthy opponents standing before him? No, it was like a douse of humanity returned as he chose to flee instead of deal with her. Owl had disobeyed orders and was allowed to live so Tatara was contradicting his claim wasn't he?

The memory of the three ghouls staring down at her triumphantly resurfaced. Owl's smile was the brightest when Tatara knocked her unconscious.

She had seen ghouls driven mad from hunger but to see a former colleague stare at her with absolute hatred was not something she had pictured when agreeing to handle this case.

Once again she found her decision to work alone as a foolhardy decision. The academy stressed how imperative it was to work in teams to prevent ghouls from having advantage of numbers. She should have followed protocol instead of jumping the gun to try ending what was initially an easy case.

If Amon and her father were still alive they would never cease in their lectures on the irrationality of her decision. Publicly she was known for being a stickler to the rules so her decision was quite out of character.

She hadn't been herself lately…

Eto cleared her throat startling Akira forcing her to remember the current situation. Apparently Eto wasn't going to leave until Akira relented to her demands.

The darkness clouding her vision earlier had diminished briefly in her sprout of anger but it slowly crept back. Yielding to Eto's demands would appease her abductor and made it quicker for Eto to leave her unaccompanied. The thought of compromising with a ghoul sickened her but her body was caving in to deprivation and fatigue.

A vile taste entered Akira's mouth that had nothing to do with the crusty flavoring of dry blood from Tatara's inflicted wound.

The ghoul leaned closer causing Akira to consciously scoot back against her better judgment. Her back went rigid against the metal crushing her spine. Overlooking her regrets of publicly displaying her discomfort she focused on the sore in her ribs.

Momentarily closing her eyes she fought against queasiness.

Her body was a canvas of battle wounds.

If she managed to get back to headquarters the medics were going to have a field day patching her up. Her heart plummeted as the thought- 'If I make it alive'- once again materialized in her head.

Biting the inside of her good cheek, she composed herself into the persona of cool professionalism putting forth a good effort of hyping up her nickname "Ice Queen" into the act. Akira tried to cross her leg until she was crudely reminded of being strapped down.

Eto looked down at the struggling tendon curiously, Akira swore the ghoul's ill-intent grin grew wider. Receiving satisfaction in causing Akira uneasiness Eto sat back to chuckle darkly. The sound reminded Akira of those old time cartoon villains twirling a mustache.

The compulsion to smack Eto across the face resurfaced but she put force the image of civility towards her opponent. Better to fake civility than make another enemy since Tatara had practically painted his intentions to rip her limbs apart with her blood.

Such a lovely group of people.

After this ordeal she looked forward to future get togethers with the organization.

Blinking Akira struggled not to stomp her foot as she mentally protested against such gloomy humor.

"You're letting this place get to you, cut it out," were a few of the sharp scoldings resonating in her head. Her ears began ringing at that moment when Eto began to rake her nails against the steel to force Akira into conversing.

The immaturity of someone who flanked Tatara daily left her flabbergasted.

Leaning her head back Akira donned her best sarcastic smile as she inquired lazily,

"Earlier you mentioned wanting to trade secrets. Do tell what secrets you wish to share, Eto? In comparison to your particular interests my life is rather dull."

Disregarding Akira's blatant insult, If Eto tapped a finger against her chin daintily like someone selecting a new topic at teatime. The whole situation and false flatteries made Akira sick but she endured.

While Eto remained distracted Akira performed different routines to regain feeling into her hands. Numbness spread through the joints but she managed to work out the kinks. A memory of her hands thawing after playing in the snow emerged. She found slight similarities between the pains.

Fighting with sheer brute force alone was out of the question so she was going to have to find a makeshift weapon.

The moment she found her quinque she was going to harvest a few selected ghouls' organs sure to grant her a short leave of absence for breaking CCG's ruling to not cause more harm to a ghoul than absolutely necessary.

In this moment Akira decided the rules could be damned since she had a personal bone to pick with these beasts.

"Better stop with those cranky looks, Dove, they're rather unflattering with your current appearance," Eto waved a hand towards the disheveled female. Akira bared her teeth for a brief second before narrowing her eyes.

"Don't worry I'll make this worth your while, it's not very often I get to chat with other females since we tend to allow more male recruits into our group," admitted Eto reluctantly.

"I want to punch her," thought a livid Akira who grudgingly agreed to being one of the few females in a leadership role within CCG; perhaps she could use this similarity to her advantage.

Anything to get Eto to leave.

Nodding her head Akira expressed disdainfully, "It displeases me to admit that I'm often left to settle disagreements between my male colleagues since men let their tempers flare. Leave it to a woman to keep a rational mind while men blow steam at the smallest sign of discrepancy."

The ghoul agreed. "It tickles me on how men think they're the logical ones when they often squabble over trivial things. Just the other day I had to knock some sense into two of my subordinates getting into a fight over who got to eat the remains of an executed ghoul continually abandoning duties. Seems he had a habit of wandering off to splurge on feeding frenzies instead of following assigned targets."

Akira scrunched her nose disgustedly over this information.

Leave it to Eto to discuss her comrades eating one another in a similar fashion as discussing the weather.

By now it shouldn't surprise her to hear about ghouls participating in cannibalism but the situation did not leave a good taste in her mouth- no pun intended- to hear how easily the members were to eat an ally. These creatures truly lacked any sense of morality.

Of course Eto could discuss these matters flippantly since she probably dealt with similar situations on a daily basis.

Thank god CCG typically gave nothing more than a slap on the wrist for trivial matters.

Sorting through the provided information Akira inquired, "You don't strike me as the type to command. I thought Tatara was the one designated with those duties based on his personality."

Swinging her legs Eto mentioned offhandedly, "Tatara has a better charisma when it comes to earning respect, some of our members with a stubborn streak have become more docile after being personally dealt with by him. The man is not known for putting up with impudence."

"I'm sure not," thought Akira scathingly, "the man has a low tolerance when it comes to being told no."

"Enough about me I'm simply a messenger for Tatara who issue his commands when he is unavailable summing it simply. What about you, Miss Dove? Aren't you a leader also?"

The temperature within the room grew chilly suddenly; Akira could hear the sounds of machines being turned off signaling they were trying to conserve energy. Most organizations would save energy during the night shift by turning off any electric units when hardly anybody was present.

Akira nearly panicked at the realization it was possibly nighttime. She had been locked up in this room longer than assumed.

As though to further aggravate her troubled mind her stomach grumbled at that precise moment. Gnashing her teeth she fought the urge to cry out as her stomach's rumbling caused her bruised ribs to throb.

What had Eto asked again? Exhaustion was creeping up.

It then clicked in her mind on Eto's inquiries and she tiredly responded, "Yes, I'm currently a supervisor overseeing the progress of an experimental group that's new within the organization."

Keep it brief.

"Experimental group?" questioned Eto curiously. "Sounds intriguing, tell me more. I'm curious about this new group since CCG is not exactly known for originality. Your lot loves to follow tradition."

The investigator detected a hint of rudeness within Eto's 'innocent' remark but decided to ignore the subtle insult. Instead she politely, if not somewhat sharply, stated, "Those traditions have guided our methodology."

Eto waved a hand in the air, "Indulge my philosophy for a moment: Don't you agree it's preferable to adapt new traditions than blindly follow outdated ones? Traditions are meant to be broken in my opinion."

Did the ghoul fantasize herself as a modern Plato?

Well her opinion on insubordination differed from Tatara's. Akira squinted her eyes; perhaps Eto was pretending to disagree with Tatara's mentality to delude the woman into a false sense of camaraderie.

The cool air made her shiver causing her ribs to ache more. The blood started cracking in her mouth. Turning her head she spit the substance out deciding she was beyond caring about appearances.

"If Tatara overheard you he would probably find spare time to use those instruments on you," Akira inclined the table with a nod, "just for the fact you… seem to have opinions outside his narrow-minded views."

"Tatara is of little concern to me," Eto examined her fingers; Akira noticed there was something off in her statement on Tatara. Before she could ask Eto continued. "You haven't answered my earlier question."

And she hadn't been planning to since she was under the presumption Eto knew the generic information about her and was simply wasting time. The Aogiri probably knew everything available on the Quinx members from their birthdays to their diets so feigning ignorance would prove foolish.

Akira decided to address this tidbit. "My apologies, I was under the presumption you already knew everything available on me since you claim your colleagues wish me dead so it wouldn't be surprising to learn information on your target."

Picking her nails Eto nodded, "Hmm, I know some of the basics but my attention has been focused on other matters so my knowledge is limited. Why don't you fill me in on your job description."

Scoffing Akira protested, "Ask your spies. I'm sure they've unearthed all kinds of juicy information on me while I've been trapped."

To say she was slightly bitter about two agents of Aogiri sneaking into Headquarters and tricking her was an understatement.

"Please those two drug addicts are incompetent. Decent actors but horrible when it comes to collecting data."

"Surprisingly they managed groundbreaking performances as incompetent buffoons you have to give them due credit there," Akira suggested.

"If you say so," Eto sounded bored with the discussion, "can you answer my question already or do I have to get inventive to acquire it?"

Lowering her head Eto added sweetly, "Should I make you a prime example of what happens to those who cross me?"

"Should I _show_ you the latest chokehold technique involving bandages?" Akira retorted stormily, nostrils flaring. Turning her head she spewed out another wad of bloody spit.

"Charming." Eto's nose scrunched at the white specks of saliva.

Wiping her mouth against her shoulder Akira returned to their prior conversation, "What's there to know I'm simply an observer for a group of teenagers."

If she kept her comments short maybe Eto would grow bored and leave her in peace for her to plan an escape. During their whole discussion Akira had quietly clawed at the ropes until she felt the fibers grow thinner in certain areas. If she kept at it they could be loosened enough to where she could free her hands.

"And?" Eto angled her head.

"They're just a bunch of rowdy problem children needing discipline they can be quite the handful honestly," admitted Akira sweetly, like a doting mother complaining of a disobedient child who enjoyed drawing on the wall.

"How awful," Eto replied sarcastically, apparently not buying Akira's half-truths, "the great investigator is nothing more than a babysitter. I'm disappointed."

Anger flared in Akira's chest.

"Sorry to bore you but that's all I have to offer on my team, they're still rookies so there's not much to boast about just yet."

Fine she was playing dumb but her attention was concentrated on shredding the ropes.

Hopefully she had provided just enough information to ward the female ghoul's wish for conversation off until a later date.

Of course she wasn't that lucky.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but as a supervisor for a top-secret squad of teenagers possessing ghoul abilities you should have a lot of things to discuss. After all, your Quinx Squad has raised quite the fuss in the ghoul community but that's just me," Eto shrugged.

Damn.

"You got me," Akira chuckled humorlessly. "My role is to serve as an advisor for the squad since they're the first of their kind in the organization. Many investigators are still dubious about their creation so they needed a mediator should things turn sour. Some of my associates were less than thrilled with human experimentation."

Eto cocked a head. "And you didn't have any trouble with this?"

"At first I had my fair share of incredulities but my opinion was rapidly changed when some mad scientist started creating one-eye ghouls through unorthodox means to fulfill some sick fascination. After encountering his little specimens we needed to design our own countermeasures." Akira glared at Eto piercingly.

The mad scientist, Dr. Kanou, had caused quite a commotion in CCG when his experiments became public. Scientists began scrambling to find out how he was capable of conducting such unorthodox experiments.

When discarded reports from his lab were discovered three years ago it was decided among the CCG's elite that they needed to switch tactics and produce their own mad experiments.

And thus the Quinx Squad was formed.

Eerily it was like Eto could read her mind. "And this was how the Quinx Squad was assembled?"

"I don't know if assembled is the correct way to define their creation but they were definitely restructured into the perfect weapons."

Eto laughed as though this was the most amusing thing she had heard all week. She even slapped a knee proclaiming, "This is _rich_! Here you are telling me we're the monsters when your organization is petty enough to recreate our experiments. You're nothing more than hypocrites. You even had the audacity to ask me how I felt about being turned into one of your grotesque weapons!"

Akira simmered. "Be careful with how you phrase things, Eto. Remember we didn't begin human experimentation until your little masterpieces came banging on our front door. At least our 'specimens' willingly agreed to become monsters without the use of coercion."

Her comment silenced the ghoul immediately and Akira couldn't deny her satisfaction with the result.

Something told the young woman Eto was glaring in those black holes but the ghoul lifted her hands dramatically, preaching, "Oh, dear me, how easily I had forgotten I'm the _monster_ here!"

There was an edge of hysteria laced in Eto's voice she was horribly trying to disguise.

"It would seem things slip your mind easily ghoul," Akira changed terminology just to goad Eto into losing her cool further.

The ghoul could pretend she wasn't bothered by Akira's comments but her silence proved her mounting fury.

Eto was about to say something when the lights flickered. The small female instantly sprang up when the lights blinked on and off.

The two women examined the ceiling; Akira noticed small specks of dust fall when the ceiling suddenly began to shake. She heard Eto curse under her breath as the door slid open revealing Tatara.

He angled his head towards his left, "The king wishes to see you, he's just given his order for the first battalion to annihilate some rebel ghouls trespassing into our territory."

Eto sighed in relief, her shoulders drooping. "So that's what the commotion was about, I thought we were under attack."

Hearing this comment made Akira's head shot up hopefully before it numbly dawned on her the CCG were probably stuck in the preliminary stages of investigating her disappearance. It was still too early for a rescue attempt.

She hung her head in defeat.

The rope felt heavy in her hands as she paused in her routine to keep the two ghouls from noticing her efforts with their superb hearing. Hopefully Eto hadn't noticed the investigator clawing at the ropes. (Although Eto seemed highly engrossed in making the human squirm).

Akira chose to keep her wishful thinking since it was the only thing keeping her grounded presently as her body wanted to collapse.

"If enemy forces sprang a surprise attack on our base you would have been notified immediately since we need reinforcements," he paused finally remembering a member of Aogiri's sworn enemy was seated before them. A flare of anger lit in Akira's chest since her enemy pronounced her too insignificant to discuss his organization's problems. "Hurry up, the king doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"Aye, aye captain," Eto replied arrogantly.

She began skipping away before pausing to flounce back, placing a finger under Akira's chin she lifted the woman's head up stating cheerfully, "I look forward to continuing our discussion."

The trapped woman flinched when Eto ran a hand down the sweating woman's bruised cheek tenderly. Similarly to a lover caressing their significant other.

Leaning forward Eto whispered into Akira's ear, letting her breath goose the investigator's skin, "Hopefully you won't break as easily as your fellow Dove members captured during the Anteiku raid."

Heaven knows what overcame her usually professional demeanor but Akira wasted no time in snarling, "Fuck off."

This earned a giggle from Eto who patted the human's face affectionately. She leaned back chuckling cruelly before whirling around to bounce off. Pausing at the door she waved, "Nighty night human!"

Narrowing her eyes Akira spit another wad on the floor before glaring at the ghouls challengingly. Aogiri's executives looked at one another before Eto shrugged and ran off. Tatara, however, paused at the door his gaze lingering on his collection when he pointedly looked at Akira.

She skimmed a glance over at the weapons before meeting his gaze. In her smothering gaze she tried to nonverbally express the things she wanted to do with those tools that probably mirrored his own desires.

Instead of continuing their silent confrontation the male clicked a switch to close the door. His menacing gaze never left Akira's as the door slowly slid shut.

She held her breath for a few seconds as she waited for the noise of retreating footsteps. The sound of his footsteps growing fainter as he moved down the hall was music to her ears.

Now the only sounds echoing throughout the room was the buzzing fly and flickering lights. There were also sounds of flowing water but it was faint through the closed door.

Truthfully she wanted nothing more than to lie down in the fetal position and sleep. But the clock was ticking and it was obvious their main strategy was to starve her- as her grumbling stomach served as a painful reminder. If she didn't escape now her chances would diminish.

Already her throat was growing scratchy from talking earlier. She was severely dehydrated.

The first task on her agenda after escaping: bursting one of the pipes and lapping down water to ease her parched throat.

Before she could start shredding the rope she inspected the room for hidden cameras or motion detectors. She had yet to detect any surveillance equipment. There were no openings in the corners to hide hidden cameras and the doorframe lacked motion detectors.

Looking up she noticed the glass fixtures were blurred so it would be difficult to hide cameras up there since the ghouls wouldn't have a clear picture on the happenings in the room.

She blew on a strand of hair plastered to her forehead. For an organization composed of highly trained ghouls capable of slaughtering humans by the dozen they were severely deficient when it came to monitoring their captives.

Maybe their funding was running out?

No matter the circumstances she still found herself growing suspicious on these numerous oddities but decided to overlook it since escape was the main objective.

Taking deep breaths she began preparing herself for her upcoming objective. Closing her eyes and praying she wouldn't scream she gripped the rope tightly beneath her fingers and began running the coil up and down the chair legs.

Her hands throbbed.

She felt the rope start to slacken but knew she had a long way to go. Sucking down deep mouthfuls of air she bit down on her lip to keep from crying out. The rope continued to grow looser and looser.

Her eyes started to moisten at the overwhelming pain as the rope slide across sores on her wrists. Every nerve in her body was on high alert and she nearly jumped out of her skin when one of the engines started humming as heat was turned back on.

A drop of sweat slid down her cheek as she resumed shredding the rope.

Finally the rope split apart. When the investigator heard the thump of ropes falling onto the ground she had to resist laughing mirthfully from relief.

Unfortunately her joy was short-lived. Without the rope serving as a support her hands flopped down to her sides painfully. Lowering her head she took deep gulps of air as blood rushed to her head from the unbelievable pain. She grit her teeth and began wiggling her fingers to recirculate blood flow.

Several minutes went by until she was able to move her fingers successfully. Now came the trickier challenge of finding a way to escape with a sprained ankle.

While she had regained some feeling in her hands she noticed slight swollenness in them from Tatara's tight fastening. There wasn't a doubt in her mind she wasn't going to have productive results by attempting to claw the ropes apart a second time. For a second she eyed a gleaming knife on the table longingly before deciding that hopping over was sure to draw attention if any ghoul presence was proximate.

The only choice was to undo the ties if she wished to avoid luring enemies to her location by making noise.

Swooping down she began unfastening the ties as quickly as possible with one ear trained on the door. This wasn't a time to be caught in the act.

It took several attempts on the rope but she finally succeeded.

Letting out a shaky breath she chuckled halfheartedly. When a sharp pain ran up her leg she bit down on her sleeve. Gasping for air she fought to stay conscious as every bruise and broken bone in her body pulsated with pain.

Luck was on her side for the time being since she managed two seemingly impossible challenges but the next challenge would prove the most grueling.

She really wasn't looking forward to this part after being confined to a chair for hours.

Gripping the chair she attempted to push up on wobbly legs. She had barely elevated herself above the chair before her legs gave out. In one sweeping gesture she collapsed to the ground ungracefully.

Pain burst from her ribs like wildfire. Akira cried out from agony placing one hand against her ribs as her ankle pulsed. What a sight to behold- the Ice Queen lying in a heap on the floor.

Sheer perseverance was going to keep her motivated for this next ordeal.

The ground felt cool against her scalp as she rested her forehead on the surface. Slowly raising her head she placed her chin against the floor and stared at the door that allegorically appeared like a passage to heaven.

"Your parents died fighting ghouls from Aogiri Tree and you're lying on the ground like a defeated dog. Is this really how you wish to end things, Akira Mado?" hissed Akira's thoughts.

Stupidly Akira shook her head and stated out loud to the imaginative voice pathetically, "No…"

It would appear that the fever was causing her to suffer delusions. Pinching her cheek she struggled to stay attentive.

"Then rise and give them hell, even if this is the end at least you can go out fighting," the voice stated sympathetically.

The voice changed until it became a chorus of voices she had known in the past, she could detect her parents urging her to get up along with some of her colleagues both alive and deceased.

No matter the cause their voices gave her strength.

Placing her hands beneath her shoulders she slowly hoisted herself moaning in pain the entire time. A few hisses escaped during the process but she was beyond caring as those voices pleaded with her to strive onwards.

Eventually she managed to completely hoist her torso off the ground. Shamelessly panting away as sweat droplets fell to the floor. The ground was smeared with a mixture of sweat and blood. Glancing back she witnessed a tiny trail of blood following her.

Shaking her head she planted her good foot on the ground, yanking her shirt out of the skirt. She began wringing the fabric between her fingers until it ripped.

Slowly turning she looked at the swollen ankle; removing her shoe she began tying the fabric around the tendon. If more pressure was applied at least the pain could be numbed somewhat.

With one more wrap she finished the task and lifted her entire frame off the ground ignoring how her foot groaned the entire way up. Once she stood at her full height she kicked the other shoe off and limped to the table.

Tatara had good taste when it came to his vast pool of collectible tools of torture. She scanned the objects carefully before deciding to limit herself to a small stainless steel knife, a sleek chisel, and a flat head screwdriver. It was preferable to keep the noise down since the sounds of clinking tools would draw unwanted attention and she lacked places to store large makeshift weapons.

After placing the three tools into her waistband she staggered to the door.

The fly continued flinging its body against the fixture aimlessly as it fought to reach the destination of its imminent doom.

A shiver ran down her spine as she fought to ignore the similarities in their circumstances.

Reaching for the door she did one last sweep over the room still not shaking off the feeling this was a trap. Never in the long history of successful getaways had a CCG agent received such a welcoming exit. Surely a horde of ghouls would leap on her once she opened the door?

Akira was not surprised to find the door wouldn't budge no matter how hard she tugged.

This was where the tools came into play.

Placing her cheek against the door she systemically began working the screwdriver on the locks. The Academy had taught basic unlocking techniques in case an agent was trapped.

One lock unclicked.

She smiled and swept the screwdriver down the center feeling two more locking mechanisms glide under its head.

Deftly she went to work on unlocking the last two.

With one more twist the final lock was undone and the door released. A hiss of cool air greeted her sweltering face. She closed her eyes and welcomed the breeze.

Placing her hands on the door she slowly slid it open. The entire time her body was erect and in a state of hyperawareness. Scrunching down she went into a defensive posture as the door fully opened. Several seconds went by without breathing before she leaned her head out the door looking for guards.

Not a soul in sight, she took an appreciative breath.

Checking both directions she was discomforted by the absolute silence in the bland hallway. Bending towards the right wall she felt around for motions detectors, her discomfort growing when she found none.

Furrowing her brows she took tentative steps into the hall braced for anything. Surely there had to be a trap wire somewhere that would cause an alarm system to sound off?

Once again she found no security alarms activated to alert ghouls.

Lips thinning she questioned whether escaping now was a good decision. This was far too easy. Maybe she should wait…

Akira stood frozen as she recognized pure fear running through her veins causing her to become cowardly. Tightening her hands into fists she swore to never let cowardice override her intuition screaming for her to keep moving.

But first she needed to rehydrate.

Standing on her tiptoes she used the chisel to pierce a hole into one of the lower water pipes. Her ankle nearly gave out but she persisted until the pipe sent out a spray of refreshing water. Stepping back she welcomed the downpour as she felt some of the griminess wash off, the water's coolness was a welcoming relief from the fire burning beneath her skin.

Opening her mouth she lapped at the water ravenously thankful for the burst of rejuvenation.

After replenishing she slid her soaked hair back- the bun was beyond salvation- and turned around to allow the water to run down her back. Later she would regret returning to Headquarters a dripping mess but for now she couldn't stand the dinginess sticking to her body.

Also she needed to remove her scent. While there was no plausible way to remove her scent entirely at least she could remove some traces. Running her hands through her hair Akira smirked, Eto had lost one opportunity at insult.

Checking herself over and taking one final swallow of water Akira sneaked down the hallway with her back planted against the wall. She headed away from the direction Tatara and Eto went since she was certain it led to a congregation area.

Based on the loud noises heard earlier some meeting was being held a floor above.

And she preferred to steer clear of a meeting with ghoul attendants. She had no desire to become someone's snack.

Nearing the end of the hall she checked both directions before swinging around the corner. This was where she began encountering complications since she lacked acquaintance with the facility's infrastructure. Either direction could lead to salvation or doom so her intuition was going to have to guide her.

Looking the place over she growled in frustration when the sounds of running water came from above. Shifting her gaze upwards an idea formed. The plumbing would lead to other capacities where ghouls gathered for personal business –water was toxic to them- so she needed to avoid those areas.

Whatever the reason her intuition found her decision logical so she wasted no time in allowing it to guide her down poorly lighted hallways whose silence crept on Akira's nerves. The longer she walked the lonely halls more questions started pouring in her head.

Did this meeting concern developments with CCG?

Was Owl participating in the discussion above or was he stationed elsewhere?

Sudden chills from a ventilation shaft made the woman hug herself. It served as a reminder of why this wasn't the time to focus on irrelevant matters.

Praying the exit did not involve finding an elevator Akira continued walking the hallways. When it became evident that no ghoul attacks were coming she unglued herself from the wall. Twenty minutes must have passed without incident.

She was under the impression nothing would.

For now at least.

Supposedly Eto was telling the truth when she claimed there were a limited number of ghouls who knew of the investigator's capture. Well, if Owl and the random ghouls were removed from the equation.

The plan was to inform CCG of this facility upon her return but CCG's decision in handling Owl was something beyond her control. Despite her former classmate's maliciousness she truly had no desire to attend his execution.

She already attended his funeral once she had no desire to attend a second.

Having to comfort a grieving Mrs. Takizawa at the funeral home while looking at pictures of Seidou and Amon nearly crushed the young woman. She had lost touch with the Takizawa's a year ago after getting heavily involved in her work but they were finally overcoming the grieving process.

The family had finally accepted their son was gone it would be almost cruel to notify them about his whereabouts.

No parent should have to see their child became a thing of nightmares…

Musing over these troubling thoughts she almost walked past an adjoining hall with bright lights in the distance. Halting immediately she turned towards the light and gasped at the brilliant glow of sunlight.

Either she was wrong in her predictions about being trapped here for hours or it was already the next day. Either way it didn't matter since possible freedom was right down the hall!

A rift opened inside her and out burst a never-ending flow of energy at the thought of escape. Without a second thought she broke into a sprint.

The woman was rudely awakened to the realization the light at the end of the tunnel was nothing more than fog lights leading into a garage. Despite her quick glimpse of the room instincts still had her jumping back in the hallway to observe for possible dangers.

This room was also unoccupied. Were all the ghouls in attendance at this meeting?

Angling her head to the side she discovered other lighted areas where other hallways connected to this room. Looking around she noticed crates and large containers piled to the ceiling. This place had to be at least four stories high.

Her mind must be playing tricks since there was hardly any lighting.

Although there weren't any detectable ghoul presences she still hurried across the floor under a cloak of shadow. Silently slipping into the shadow of a container she surveyed her surroundings. The place was almost as quiet as a crypt if not for the sounds of machines rotating. She would investigate the noise later.

Once she was certain no ghouls were present she walked out of the shadows towards a container in a well-lit area to read a description on the side.

The label was written in a foreign language she was not fluent in but she could make out a tiny stamp featuring a boat meaning these items were being prepared for shipping. Whatever was in these shipments filled her with foreboding.

There weren't any unusual aromas wafting in the air but this didn't mark off the possibility these containers held human organs or worse – living prisoners.

Holding her breath she listened for rustling sounds. Placing an ear against the solid surface she heard nothing but the hums of electricity. Stepping back she tried looking for any other indicators on what these containers accommodated.

Placing her hand against the cool steel she followed the trail of containers until it led to a center aisle. The center aisle was huge for machines to haul cargo in and out. A gigantic door was sealed shut at the entrance of this place.

The sudden whirl of gears made the investigator swing around her heart pounding. Her nerves calmed when she found blinking lights in the back where machines hauling these shipments were still being put to use despite the lack of personnel.

Various tunnels opened and closed as conveyer belts slid these crates to unknown destinations. Once a translator was found she would look into where these items were being shipped. Along with what was in them.

The clinking of gears and motors running were the only perceptible noises.

Without diverting her gaze she took steps backwards staring at the machines with keen interest. A dozen questions wove through her brain but answers would have to come later. Turning around Akira continued examining the garage which was thankfully quite boring. To the untrained eye it looked like your average run of the mill item transportation center if not for tiny dents in the floor and containers from claw marks left behind by ghouls.

Lost in thought Akira almost walked across the center aisle missing the emergency exit placed next to the larger door. The glowing light was like a beacon in a storm.

Her poor organ had barely recovered before she sprinted to the exit. On the other side of the glass door was a clear sky blanketed with stars. She had never seen a more beautiful sight.

Finally after numerous hardships she was free!

She could taste it: salvation was just beyond a metal door.

Of course luck had to run out eventually.

The door was barely three feet away when a cloaked figure sauntered out of the shadows into the center aisle. The figure wrapped in black robes was discussing his annoyance with being put on reconnaissance duty to a similarly dressed figure nodding approvingly.

Air rushed out of her lungs as she barely skidded to a stop before colliding with the first cloaked figure. Her heart pounded away as both figures ceased their chatter to stare at her curiously.

The woman's heart went still when the first figure turned around to reveal Owl. She shouldn't have been so surprised but found relief in his stunned expression. Neither had expected to encounter the other here.

In a bittersweet way it was almost humorous how his look of astonishment nearly looked identical to the human Seidou Takizawa.

Once again Owl had managed to surprise her where other ghouls had failed.

Skidding across the floor she fell on her rear gracelessly but was up in an instant scrambling away. After putting a decent distance between them she decided to take a chance by darting down a random aisle. Putting all exertion into maintaining her momentum she had to get away. There was no possibility of slipping past Owl and the random ghoul so she was going to have to find another route leading to the emergency exit. Her best method was to lose them and avoid further collisions.

Behind her the ghouls had finally overcome their shock and were in the process of pursuing her. The woman felt like a trapped mouse as she dove down aisles trying to lose them.

Without a quinque she would barely leave a scratch on these guys through physical attacks. Eyeing the suddenly crude knife she decided it was the only protection she had when push came to shove.

Akira rounded a corner with the sounds of one of the ghouls following her. The sounds were too close for comfort.

She had no clue where the other ghoul went but knew she had no control over this factor and needed to outrun the one in pursuit.

Easier said than done, thank god she started putting extra time into training.

Ghouls were vastly superior to humans in terms of strength and speed alone; the ghoul must be toying with her. A bitter chuckle nearly slipped out as she sullenly realized they were trying to exhaust her.

Hadn't she just been in a similar situation earlier?

Shaking the negative notion away she rounded another corner with the ghoul hot on her trail. The ghoul released a loud string of obscenities as he crashed into something but she refused to look back. As his curses began fading into the distance she took small pleasure in the fact that she had lost him. Taking several harrowing turns into unknown areas she finally succeeded in finding the center aisle. With one jolt of renewed energy she ran towards the emergency exit at full speed.

A smile spread across her face as the exit drew closer. Once she fled from this area she could hitchhike her way back to Headquarters after figuring out her current location. Her feet were killing her but she preferred the texture of dirt and grass in comparison to cold floors smelling of antiseptics. These pleasant thoughts were disrupted by the appearance of a silent shadow soaring over her head to land soundlessly before her.

The dark robed figure turned around just as silently to gaze at her with fathomless eyes- the color of warm soil and ruby blood. Akira was moving too fast to stop the approaching collision into Owl.

Those eyes never changed expression as she slammed into him with the force of a moving car. The smaller female bounced backwards. Releasing a loud gasp she felt like she had run into a brick wall, dizzily she took steps backwards as her head spun in circles.

Groaning she rubbed her scalp trying to placate the pain, opening one eye she noticed Owl hadn't budged an inch.

Whatever experiments had been done on Takizawa made his ghoul body tougher.

The poor woman stumbled around like a drunkard trying to regain her footing. Despite her dizziness she nearly growled at Owl when she noticed the mocking glint in his eyes as he observed her with a low chuckle. The ghoul eye, his kakugan, was blazing in the shadows giving him a demonic appearance. Akira nearly cringed as his laughter died down when his eyes traveled over her soaking wet, mangy appearance. A hint of disproval spread through them.

Dropping her hand she straightened up to stare at him challengingly, surprised by how insulted she felt.

While he kept releasing low-pitch giggles of insanity she could tell something was different about him. Something about his gaze was off, there was a hint of craziness in those eyes but it was not quite as noticeable. There was a sign of… lucidity in his gaze.

Trailing her eyes down she notice a red substance smearing his dark lips.

Blood.

The reason he looked stable was from receiving nourishment.

Noticing the direction of her gaze he looked down at his lips darting a tongue over them. Upon tasting the fresh blood his eyes lit up excitedly making the woman nearly retch. When he began chanting about 'brain-jam' Akira took several steps back, her fight-or-flight complex kicking into action.

A demented grin developed when his eyes shifted upwards to find her slinking back warily. His hood slanted down to cover his human eye leaving the kakugan visible.

The crazy gleam in his eye put Akira on offense. Without wasting any more time she yanked the knife out of her waistband and settled into a position to counter any strikes he attempted. Upon seeing her shift to hostility Owl stopped giggling entirely as he tilted his head to regard her with inquisitiveness.

Crossing his arms, he placed a foot against his upper calf muscle his expression never changing. In any other scenario she would have scoffed at the ridiculousness of his posture but something about the move seemed calculative like he was looking for a hidden signal.

Whether this fight ended in bloodshed was the least of her concerns. There was no way in hell she was becoming his next meal, former camaraderie be damned.

Angling her right side back she clenched the knife firmly behind her and elevated her left arm to serve as a shield. Due to his unpredictability she thought it best for him to make the first move. The two began a silent showdown, Owl finally settled back into a comfortable position his eyes never looked away. Her own eyes were transfixed on his bloody lips as she wondered who died tonight.

There were wide-open spaces on either side of Owl; Akira contemplated making a break for it when it appeared neither individual was going to make a move. However, she tossed this idea aside after noticing the provoking look in his eyes. His eyes shifted towards his left to determine how wide the gaps were, redirecting his gaze back he chuckled ominously. Her chest began heaving excruciatingly as exhaustion caught up.

Several seconds passed without any movement, at one point Akira wondered if Owl was still capable of _breathing_ since his chest hardly moved as he stood before her like a statue _._

Keeping a cool look of professionalism Akira wanted nothing more than to scream in frustration, the level of restlessness between them growing taut.

The former classmates continued to observe each other designedly as they waited for the other to strike. The decision was made for them as scrapping sounds echoed nearby from the second ghoul mumbles about hating closed spaces.

She didn't have enough potency to battle two ghouls so escape was now or never.

Foolishly Owl turned his head to regard the noise leaving him vulnerable for the time being. Akira rushed Owl.

The former human barely missed having his throat gutted as Akira swiped the blade across his throat. Bending backwards he managed to avoid receiving a lethal blow but was unfortunate enough to leave Akira an opportunity to whirl around and land a kick to his side. She took satisfaction in a low-pitch grunt he emitted.

He made a swipe for her throat but she had already jumped back hissing in pain as her ankle throbbed.

The woman tensed as Owl began giggling rabidly. Distortedly he chuckled, lifting his head as he gripped his side, declaring, " _You've gotten stronger, Mado."_

Her eyes widened at his compliment before she growled and returned to a defensive stance arms raised and knife brandished. Ghouls always-used deception to unnerve humans. Owl was no exception.

The reaction made him laugh harder as he inquired about whether she had eaten any sweets lately. Intuition told her that he wasn't talking about candy.

Involuntarily she shivered.

The second ghoul incorporated himself into the situation, stating several pieces of information verbally and nonverbally: loud shouts affirmed he was coming, his voice coming from a range too close for comfort, along with questions inquiring about Owl's status. There was some incredulity in the random ghoul's voice as he asked sheepishly if Owl's apprehension of the captive left her alive.

Akira's eyes blazed at the ghoul's doubts in her capabilities. Rubbing his side superficially Owl kept chanting a discordant song about sweets ignoring his supposed partner.

The incoming ghoul was only a few feet away. She listened for the sound of his arriving footsteps as she outstretched the hand wielding the knife aggressively.

She needed to get out of here _now_.

The fake one-eyed ghoul was inattentive to the young woman rushing him for a second time, lost in his singing. This time the woman dove for his kakugan, instead of his exposed throat- hadn't he learned- because she wanted to remove the main physical testimony proving he was a ghoul. Maybe it was shallow reasoning but she wanted to remember warm brown eyes glaring at her instead of that fiendish red eye mocking her.

From her peripheral vision Akira witnessed firsthand his inhuman speed as his hand shot up to grasp her knife in mid-strike. Seizing her hand she trembled as he instantly stopped singing to smile down at her vindictively. The woman forgot to breathe as he yanked her immobilized hand higher as a private demonstration he was the one in control now. When their eyes became level, her tiptoes pawing at the ground, Owl gave her a slithering smile as he practically inhaled her fear. " _Such a rookie move, Mado, employing the same move twice."_

The bastard had tricked her. This entire time he was pretending to be careless to lure her into attacking.

Pure shame at her stupidity washed over the woman but she rechanneled that humiliation into fury over his criticisms.

With only one hand available she first tried to dislodge his grip but found it useless as he tightened his hold painfully. Akira growled as his fingers dug into the back of her hand. The woman leaned back in revulsion as he blew air into her face reeking of god knew what.

Since she couldn't break his hold, and this angle made it difficult to use her feet, she tried swinging back and forth to make him totter. The only result was Owl sighing in boredom as she mentally ran through a list of techniques to help her escape. There were ten different ways to force him into releasing her hand but the problem being was that they were techniques used on lower ranking ghouls.

She could try to gouge his eye or rip an ear off as starters but reports Haise wrote during the aftermath claimed Takizawa had a high pain tolerance in comparison to other ghouls. The report went on to further mention the ghoul had probably suffered from severe torture from comments made during the skirmish. Right now she really didn't want to succeed in doing nothing more than enraging Owl.

He could walk away unscathed from a few spilled intestines unlike her.

" _Hickory, Dickory, dock. The mouse ran up the clock,"_ Owl swished his head side-to-side. He grinned at the glower shot his way.

"The clock struck one, the mouse ran down. Hickory, Dickory, Dock," finished the second ghoul. Both members turned to look at the new arrival as he leaned against a metal container with apparent nonchalance at finding Owl engaged in combat without him. The second ghoul looked to be in his late twenties and was conventional in his looks save for a shaved head.

Pushing off the frame he sauntered over to them his face apathetic as he lazily indicated, "I don't think this is an appropriate situation for nursery rhymes, Owl."

The ghoul was slightly taller than Owl so he had to stoop down to stare at Akira's face. Lazily he looked her over before drawling condescendingly, "We were not permitted to attend the meeting in order to retrieve _this?"_

Owl watched disinterestedly as the plain ghoul gawked; prattling his annoyances about being unable to participate in the strategy meeting because he was chosen for guard duty. He might as well have said baby-sitting with the peeved looks he kept sending in Akira's direction grumbling about his stupidity in not shirking his duties to one of the initiates. The sounds of his complaints made something snap in Akira's mind as she fumed over the ghouls' disrespect. The men believed she was nothing more than a troublesome pest instead of a deadly opponent.

She needed to fix that.

Akira resumed her earlier methodologies of tugging on Owl's hand releasing tiny snarls periodically to make the men believe she was running out of options.

The unnamed ghoul crossed his arms smirking spitefully as the woman struggled aimlessly. Little did he know the plan forming in her head.

"For a ghoul you sure do love to talk, wonder what will happen when that ability is taken from you," thought Akira sending the ghoul a tiny sneer from the side. Whether the ghoul detected any hidden agendas in her expression seemed unlikely as he rolled his eyes huffing.

"They got me all excited for nothing, this Dove doesn't look like she has enough meat on her bones to be anything more than a snack," ranted the tall ghoul, he skimmed his eyes over her frame again throwing his hands in the air, "Then again, I've been needing a new toothpick…"

Owl kept his eyes trained on the new arrival, his expression never changing as he stared at his comrade haughtily. Akira got the impression Owl did not have a high opinion of the whiny ghoul by the way his body fidgeted anytime the ghoul came too near.

She wondered if she could convince Owl to form an alliance based on their mutual consensus of despising this nonstop chatterbox. There was that saying- the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And Owl had made it clear he held no personal commitments to the past…

Akira lifted her head as an idea formed in her head.

Sensing a change in her demeanor Owl snapped his attention back towards her. Aogiri Tree had removed his eyebrows but she could see his forehead crease as those eyes stared at her skeptically.

Akira gave him a strange grin. The two locked eyes as the second ghoul paced in the background fretting.

Her grin widened significantly when the unwanted visitor intruded on their private confrontation. Narrowing an eye Owl questioned, " _What's with that look?"_

Owl opened his mouth to say something else right as her hand shot out to grab ahold of the tall ghoul's tongue as he leaned in to breathe on her. The ghoul tried to yank back but her fingers were clamped down firmly on the pink muscle. Shock more than pain had the ghoul howling.

"Whav-da…hal!" mumbled the ghoul, he pointed at his tongue and indicted her. "Visten heer yoos stoopiiid-"

The ghoul never finished his statement as her fingers encircled the muscle and gave a firm yank. His kakugan eyes became prominent as he released an ear-splitting scream when a tiny tear formed along the center of the slimy pink tissue.

Before she could tear the tissue any further he yanked her fingers off and stumbled backwards coughing. Holding his mouth his red eyes blazed as he shook a finger at her, " _I'm going to gut you bitch."_

"Could you repeat that?" she asked sweetly. "It seems like a cat got your tongue…"

The ghoul seethed.

Without flinching the investigator returned his gaze tenfold but was distracted by the body trembling laughter of Owl. Turning her face forward she watched as Owl, still holding her up, derisively cackled at his comrade's unrefined appearance. She shivered when he lifted his head to sniff the air, savoring the smell of the random ghoul's blood.

Finally overcoming his shock the injured ghoul shot up to storm across the floor teeth bared. " _Don't you turn you back on me you insolent little mongrel."_

The ghoul stretched his hand out to reach for her throat. Akira couldn't help the smile that formed when Owl lashed his arm out to send the second ghoul flying. The other ghoul released a loud huff as his body left a dent into the container's side; his head reeled as he slunk down to the floor.

Lowering his arm Owl hissed, " _Don't touch my prey, Jackal."_

Jackal.

Quite the fitting name for a mangy little ghoul whose bark was worse than his bite.

Akira found the whole scenario delicious since her intuition proved correct in her theory the only way to get Owl to unintentionally cooperate with her was to make his predator instincts come into play. The former human had designated her as his target and he wasn't going to willingly hand off his prey to another ghoul he deemed inferior. Leave it to the ghouls to scrap over the investigator like two beasts fighting over a bone.

She couldn't win an encounter with Owl through physical means and the lack of her qunique left her with a severe disadvantage. Therefore, she would need to use her wits to unsettle Owl through other means.

The former human cackled as he relished over Jackal's collapsed form, paying no heed to the human who finally pacified her nerves to act out the next portion of her plan.

The white-haired man with the one-eyed kakugan stopped laughing instantly when she placed a hand against his cheek tenderly. Shifting his gaze back towards her he stared at her in disbelief as she stroked his cheek.

A part deep inside her, that she had to lock down tightly, hated her for manipulating him but since she had no other options available she had to rely on mental manipulation. An eye for an eye, he tricked her into believing him harmless now it was her turn to do the same.

Deceitfully she smiled continuing to rub his too dry skin, "Thank you for helping me, Takizawa."

At the mention of his surname he stiffened, his entire frame growing taut. There was an unidentified emotion behind his gaze but mostly just confusion. She could tell he knew she was bluffing but wasn't certain what her aim was.

After overcoming the initial shock he lifted her higher off the ground to bark out, " _That man is dead why can't you figure it out!"_

She knew he would react violently so keeping her cool she continued to stroke his face, "Seidou, I know you're in there."

Owl snarled, his entire frame shaking. Here was where she would have to start treading carefully since he looked ready to snap before she put her plan into motion.

"Seidou, you don't have to do this, you need to come back before it's too late," Akira lamented. She couldn't tell but she thought Owl's shoulders shook for a second as he released a strangled wail.

"Leave before they erase you entirely," she croaked. It dawned on Akira she wasn't acting anymore and hated what she was about to do all the more since Owl looked truly devastated- torn between wanting to tear her apart or collapse.

" _Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!"_ he snapped, shaking her.

She allowed him.

When he began to settle down she leaned forward to rest her forehead against his own; running a hand through his slick hair she placed it on the back of his head. Owl sputtered at this gesture.

For a moment she did nothing more than close her eyes to appreciate the absurd serenity of the situation. Here they stood as mortal enemies doomed to forever battle each other until the other was slain yet here they were grieving over their fates. Akira regretted knowing she would have to eventually kill her former classmate if he continued down this dark path of doom. And she had a feeling Takizawa regretted the loss of his humanity as she felt the confusion wafting off him. She could hear him gritting his teeth as he clenched and unclenched his hands trying to fight off the sensation to kill the human before him.

He was lost but…perhaps not fully consumed by his ghoul instincts yet.

If the former side of his humanity had been erased altogether she would have been slain the moment she ran straight into the beckoning hands of Owl.

Yet, here he stood fighting off the urge to devour her and destroy the object of his disdain forever. As a human he never backed down in his proclamations of wanting to defeat her eventually. But even now holding immeasurable power in comparison to her limited human abilities he was struggling to not make use of his untapped capabilities.

There was still good in him hidden beneath layers and layers of lost and grief.

Grief consumed her. Grief over the lost of a friend, grief over never getting to know him as something other than a rival, and grief for manipulating the emotions of a man torn from the inside out.

For the first time in her life she despised being an investigator.

She should have made a move already but dammit she wanted a few more moments of pretending this story had a happy ending. Eventually she felt the ghoul start losing his internal struggle as she felt his free hand shake as it raised up to make a move towards her throat.

Akira smiled bitterly as she forced out, "Forgive me."

Owl barely had time to understand something was off before she let go of his head to lurch down on her heels and spring up to knock into his chin. The man gasped as he began to fall back his grip loosening. Quickly shifting back into her role as an investigator she coolly accessed her foe letting go of her hand as he stumbled back.

Jumping back she regained her balance and quickly leapt forward planting the knife firmly into the area where his throat connected with his shoulder. Owl's eyes went wide as she pushed him down and hurdled over him towards the exit.

The distraction had proved successful but she had a limited time frame until he overcame his shock to pursue her. The woman had just gripped the door handle and was in the process of tugging it open when a bony hand clamped down on her shoulder.

A hideous chuckle was released before a repulsive voice purred, "Going somewhere sweetheart?"

Akira barely had time to recognize the error in her assumption of the second ghoul's incapacitation when Jackal flung her across the aisle. Her body soared through the air before colliding against the floor. She felt a bone shatter as she rolled backwards.

She choked, her body growing numb from the impact.

Jackal howled.

Akira released a strange breathy groan; her mind seemed to be watching the entire ordeal from an outer body perspective as she saw herself lay crumbled in a heap on the floor.

Blood oozed from the side of her head as she watched Jackal gleefully bounce over to her. Jumping down on his hands and knees he laughed fiendishly at her indisposed form still whooping over his supposed victory.

She coughed out blood while her vision grew fuzzier.

Unable to turn her head or move any other portion of her body she laid helplessly on the ground watching as Jackal bounced around merrily. Disgusted she lowered her gaze to find Owl wrenching the knife out of his shoulder to chuck it off to the side.

He grimaced. Rubbing a hand over the bloody, damaged area awkwardly.

Owl glared at Jackal's merriment with keen repugnance and wasn't surprised when he snarled in the other ghoul's direction. Jackal ignored the one-eyed ghoul's warnings as he fashioned himself as some champion for the ghoul organization.

Turning away in disgust Owl ran his eyes over the woman's collapsed form. She wasn't surprised when he didn't automatically make any moves to come help her.

What did surprise her was when Owl's seething glare changed into some expression akin to regret in his eyes.

She didn't know what to make of that.

Disclaimer and Rant\- Super lengthy chapters combined into one since I don't know when I'll get another free chance to write for the next week. But let me begin with none of these characters belonging to me. This chapter was being worked on awhile back but the passing of a family member kept me from posting. Truthfully I decided to distract myself from my grief by writing and I must say this feels like one of my best chapters out of all the stories I'm writing so he must be guiding me to become constructive. Whatever the case here's a new chapter and sorry for the sudden disclosure but it's a way for me to cope hope you all understand! Love you readers and hope you enjoy!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Five- We've all gone mad

Owl released a hiss as his skin began stitching itself back together from the superficial blow inflicted by the investigator. Leave it to the aggravating woman to slip past his defenses and land a surprise attack. The young man internally cursed his stupidity. He knew Tatara would give him hell for this but found he was beyond caring. He was more disgusted with his brief stint in slipping back in time to another identity now forsaken. Curling his lips back, as his shoulder throbbed in protest; he swore to never allow the woman to take advantage of his insecurities again. For one second he allowed vulnerability to slip through due to shock of the Ice Queen's tenderness- never again.

Gripping his shoulder he dug his fingers into the flesh to focus his attention elsewhere than the area mending. It would be a lie if he pretended to feel nothing in his newfound healing abilities as an artificial ghoul.

True, his tolerance for pain has surpassed expectations of the Executives. Both Eto and Tatara had taken great pleasure in testing his healing capabilities. Upon finding his abilities doubled with each practice run they doubled their efforts in determining how quickly he healed from each inflicted wound. In one practice run, the ghouls had barely finished detaching his arm before the nerves began rejoining. The bandaged girl and albino were fascinated while Dr. Kanou thought there was need for improvement.

The bastard always found a flaw in _some_ form or another.

Whether it was Owl's .3-second delay in regenerating limbs or his sudden bursts of increased appetite deemed "questionable" in Kanou's reports the old man always found some flaw in his creation.

And Owl hated the doctor with each check placed beside a category for needing improvement under Owl's depiction.

Dr. Kanou with his wizened, amicable features and demeanor as a seasoned professional simply wanting to perfect his test subject was a load of bull in Owl's opinion. Dr. Kanou was Dr. Frankenstein to Eto the Devil Incarnate. Sometimes it was hard to determine which individual was the bigger monster.

The good doctor often came to praise Owl on splendid performances for dismembering weaker ghouls in the same breath he muttered deficiencies in Owl's lack of technique or speed.

Apparently, the good doctor was trying to recreate a prior test subject in his ghoul experimentation on CCG investigators by the name of, Ken Kaneki, whom he considered his prize subject. The doctor often made insincere proclamations of Owl being the one true groundbreaking success involving tests on CCG investigators. But, would never fail in admitting the lone success failed in comparison to the original experiment.

The inferiority chip present throughout Owl's previous life as a human transferred to his ghoul state. Said chip was still focused on a certain female currently incapacitated but there was now newfound hostility pinpointed towards this Ken Kaneki.

There was slight irony in this predicament- the prized subject had a new alias and identity with no inkling of his former glory days as a rebel ghoul to Aogiri's agendas. The grim reaper had ceased the rebel's agenda before it had even begun.

Narrowing his eyes Owl questioned whether he would get the opportunity to fight the infamous Grim Reaper of CCG.

Glancing towards the unconscious woman he tried to not let the feelings of smugness overtake him since there was a 'once upon a time' when he only dreamed of getting the upper hand on her, the top student. Fate had a twisted sense of humor since she was almost bested if not for use of fraudulent tricks.

The white-haired ghoul was lost in his ponderings he was easily startled when his colleague released an animalistic howl and dropped to his knees to howl in the woman's face.

"I'll be damned! Look at this Dove bitch now, Itellyou she was all haughty and miss high-n-mighty and now check her out!" Jackal leaned over the woman to laugh in her face.

The Dove was oblivious to his demeaning remarks.

The motor mouth was giving Owl a prime headache. Most Doves had learned about the ghouls' consumption of coffee to ease the hunger pains when moving in public.

Usually a pot of coffee would sate the average ghoul's hunger for a short period.

Then there was this village idiot. Jackal consumed five pots of coffee daily and seemed to run on endless caffeine highs. His constant state of hyperactivity drove most of his accomplices insane.

Presently, Owl considered knocking the ghoul unconscious and sending him to the Doves for an evaluation. Surely there was an established breaking point in ghouls' bodily structure where an abundance of coffee products would rupture a ghoul's internal organs?

Ghouls were not invincible despite popular opinion.

If no studies had been conducted Owl would waste no time in _contributing_ to the humans' effort of finding answers to satisfy his curiosity.

Owl observed the scene with scorn but decided to leave the ghoul to his devices until he noticed Jackal began sniffing the female inappropriately. At first, Owl just watched him curiously until he saw a tongue dart out to swipe across the woman's face.

Whatever flavor was found in Akira's blood pleased the dim-witted ghoul immensely as he beamed stupidly at the taste. Licking his lips greedily the ghoul leaned over to drag his tongue along her face. The whole display was unnecessary and reeked of depravity.

The artificial ghoul no longer possessed any concern with taking life but even he possessed standards on violating people meaninglessly.

One second Owl was standing a few feet behind them; the next he snatched the bald-headed man and slammed him into a container.

He cringed as the sound of Jackal's body colliding with the metal container echoed across the basement but the tension left his body when nobody came sprinting out to scream obscenities at him. Owl had no clue what was in the containers but prayed it was not some contagion.

Eto and her devious schemes was likely to have some diabolic substance in this room.

The tiny woman truly was the Devil's daughter.

Jackal gasped and began pawing at Owl's hand, "The heck yur problem man!"

In response to the ghoul's pathetic attempts Owl tightened his grip earning a yelp.

Furrowing his brows and glowering Owl's voice became sinister, "Look I can deal with you rejoicing in our victory over the Dove but I'm not one to tolerate any sexual assault on an unconscious woman."

Owl leaned his head forward to stare the ghoul in the eye, activating his kakugan he snarled out, "Understood moron?"

"I'm not into tat shit with a Dove man!"

"Really? All I saw was some punk getting all feelsy with an unconscious chick. Sorry to break it to you but I call bluff on your claim."

Jackal was about to retort but stopped upon the menacing look in Owl's eyes. A gut feeling told the ghoul to just drop the subject. Raising his hands in defeat he lamented, "Alright, alright, I get it now couldya let me down."

An awkward, tense silence followed before Owl abruptly dropped the ghoul, he walked away cackling about, "Dropping some spoiled meat."

Jackal could not help wondering what was wrong with the freak-show.

"Let's get going or else we'll get a lecture," the white-haired ghoul sang creepily.

Walking over he paused for one second to spare the woman a glance before squashing any feelings of regret for good. Bending down to squat on his toes he lifted the woman off the floor and proceeded to return her to the white room.

Way in the back of Owl's mind another identity remembered a time he was held captive in the same room.

2 weeks later

Akira lost count of the days as time crept by slowly.

For the first couple of days she was in a comatose state and kept slipping in and out of consciousness. There were a few times she would briefly open her eyes to find Eto observing her quietly as though waiting for something. The bandaged girl was an unwelcome presence and Akira chose to welcome the darkness than tolerate the child's annoying antics.

Finally, she woke up to find a tube stuck in her nose and food being pumped into her body. The woman jerked back in shock at the unwelcomed substances entering her through unorthodox means. Gripping the chair's arms she tried to calm her racing heart before releasing a scream when the tube was literally plucked out of her nose abruptly.

Tears almost filled her eyes but she batted them away.

She felt a stream of blood pool from her nose from the appendage's abrupt departure. Wiping her nose against her jacket she fought back a wave of nausea.

"Ahh, so you're awake now," chirped a female's voice.

Groaning, Akira dropped her head back to close her eyes. This was not what she wanted to wake up to.

She jumped when a pair of cold fingers wrapped around her chin to lower her head. Akira's heart throbbed loudly as she stared into two pools of darkness.

"Sorry sleeping princess but I need you to wake from your beauty sleep," Eto giggled, "we have much to discuss, Miss Dove."

Akira swallowed awkwardly finding the process difficult since she was parched. The ghoul seemed to detect the human's discomfort and reached behind her to grasp a cup of water off the table Akira hadn't noticed earlier.

Eto began lowering the edge of the cup to Akira's lips, and the human thanked whatever entity was listening to her pleas, when the ghoul stopped. Akira had to resist screaming in protest when Eto gripped her chin roughly and leaned her head forward. "Let's make a deal human, I'll give you this cup of water if you promise to answer a few questions."

The ghoul tipped the cup towards Akira's waiting lips before cruelly snatching the cup back. The human fought against the whimper threatening to escape. The investigator eyed the cup greedily.

"How tragic to see the warrior Dove beg for nutrients like a common dog. Your subordinates would cry their eyes out to see you in such a _pathetic_ state."

A cool glare was shot in Eto's direction.

The ghoul shivered mockingly, "My, how scary, for a little human you sure do make some monstrous faces."

The ghoul dipped her head to whisper into Akira's ear, "Come on little girl, its just a few questions. For every question answered I'll reward you with a sip. Deal?"

Anger flared in Akira's throbbing head at the seductive tone Eto used to entice her. The ghoul was offering a form of salvation in return for betrayal of her organization's information. She literally had a refusal on the tip of her tongue before Akira decided to play it smart.

"Fine then, but I have a condition of my own." Responded Akira.

Eto placed her chin in her hand and waved in a continue-on gesture.

"I have some questions of my own," Akira attempted to cross her legs when a sharp burst of pain ran up her leg. The woman wanted to slap herself for forgetting she was bound to a chair with broken bones. "If you agree to answer _my_ questions I'll give you information."

"But I am going to withhold any information pertaining to stakeouts on Aogiri hideouts," thought the investigator.

Eto considered this before shrugging, "I would ask to shake on this but since you're tied up at the moment I guess we'll just have to settle for a verbal agreement."

Akira glared.

The child ghoul tsked and wagged her finger, "Honestly if you had simply cooperated and acted like a good little girl you might have received the privilege of having fuzzy handcuffs instead of those nasty bindings. "

In her exhausted state Akira decided to forsake decorum and spit out a tired, "Fuck you."

Releasing a wicked giggle, Eto cruelly commented, "The Dove has a tongue on her. Perhaps you need to install some wisdom into that brain of yours by realizing a smart captive does not pick arguments with their captor."

Akira almost repeated her previous comment verbatim but halted when Eto made a theatrical performance of pretending she was about to snatch the pitcher of water off the table to toss it on the floor.

Glowering, Akira icily stated, "What would you like to know, ghoul?

Her throat threated to close up and was painfully sore but she had to cooperate to get water before fainting from dehydration. Luckily the prior substance forcibly flooded into her pores was providing a boost of energy to stay alert. She questioned if some stimulants had been mixed in.

Balancing the cup in one hand the ghoul placed her other hand between her thighs and rocked back forth. "Decisions, decisions."

Bunching her shoulders up the ghoul leaned forward, "My intel discovered there is a small group of Doves investigating the house where my group captured you to look for possible evidence. Personally, I think it's a lost cause but what do I know."

Akira lifted an eyebrow.

Was there a point in this explanation?

"Anyways, there was a young man leading the party that has become quite the thorn in our side since he has gone "knocking" door-to-door looking for some answers. Apparently he is the leader of your band of misfits, the Quinx. Can you tell me what this man's name is?"

A momentary flare of pride swelled in Akira's chest as she felt relief about someone searching for her whereabouts. Of course, she should have realized her assistant would be searching for her. If she was alone right now she might actually burst into tears of relief the CCG had not abandoned her after all.

The figure of a furious white-haired artificial ghoul standing beside a tall slightly older man wearing a scowl appeared in her mind. Both had equal looks of envious fury and all feelings of thankfulness were squashed.

Akira considered the young ghoul before her. "His name is Haise Sasaki, shouldn't your Intel know this?"

Personally, she questioned how reliable Aogiri's subordinates were since the ghoul organization appeared to be recruiting anyone nowadays.

Upon answering the question Eto tilted the cup to Akira's lips and the human greedily lapped the water down. Pride be damned.

Haise Sasaki," Eto spoke with amusement, "the group of fearless Doves has an individual named Coffee World?"

The ghoul leaned backwards to laugh before dipping down to peer into Akira's face. "Sounds like an alias to me."

The notable hint of suspicion in Eto's tone alarmed the human. What was the ghoul garnering at? Surely she was not aware of the Quinx's leader's past identity right?

The hairs on the back of Akira's neck rose at the realization the ghoul was paying too close attention to the human's reactions and even closer attention to information concerning Haise.

"Quite the doubter aren't you? If you want my honest opinion there is nothing remarkable about the young man other than his abilities as a fighter and weird name so at ease, child."

The ghoul processed this information before stating, "Whatever you say. Then answer me this, how did your organization create the Quinx?"

Akira gave the ghoul a deadpan expression. "Unfortunately, I have no idea how their bodies were adapted to accept ghoul DNA. Any information pertaining to the modification experimentations is kept confidential with only selected party members being given permission to fully analyze the data. While I have interactions with the research department my particular skills are not focused on body mechanisms beyond what techniques can bring a ghoul down. Therefore, I am useless in this portion of your questionnaire." The human gleamed wickedly for a brief second before continuing, "If you want to learn more about the procedure then by all means use your resources to attempt kidnaping one of the researchers. Mind you this would mean taking on a whole organization of highly trained specialists equipped with skills and weapons to bring about your demise, ghoul"

A furious aura emanated from the ghoul but the ghoul appeared to brush the comment aside as she tipped the cup to Akira's lips once again.

The human hoped her jab at the ghoul was not taken literally when that realization came back to bite her in the behind with Eto's next comment. "The task sounds irritating no matter what angle you attempt in terms of offense and defense but we have no problems making arrangements to kidnap one of your precious researchers since our curiosity has been piqued."

Glowering, Akira shot the petite ghoul her most furious glare before the ghoul waved the look away. "Luckily for you I have other priorities to focus on at the present time."

The human was about to exhale through her nose when she ceased breathing as Eto leaned over to _breathe_ in Akira's face. Akira stared into two pools of empty darkness as the ghoul took on a gravelly voice.

" _Without a doubt you have pride in your work and undeniable loyalty to CCG's cause but I'm curious to know more about you individually instead of a mindless puppet of the Dove's endless horde of drones_."

" _Surely there are people you care for deeply and would hate to see endangered correct?"_

Gathering all her mental strength the human masked her features and coolly assessed the other female to deliberate the ghoul's strategy. Was the ghoul simply trying to rattle the lethargic female for answers or was there a deeper meaning to her interrogation?

The petite ghoul came across as a manic figure of mindlessness if one did not pay close attention to her actions. Every action performed by the ghoul held meaning. This child ghoul knew how to get answers through more calculated means than the brutish style exploited by Tatara.

" _What do you fear little girl_?" coaxed Eto

Despite the protests in her stomach and ankle the female sat taller in her seat as she refused to let the other female intimidate her. Thankfully the pain in her stomach was bothering her from a bruise and not a broken bone as previously suspected. The same sentiment could not be applied to her shoulder and ankle.

"You're asking the wrong questions, Eto."

The ghoul's head snapped back in alarm before she asked in a befuddled manner, " _Wrong questions_?"

Akira smirked, flippantly, she jeered, "The question should be rephrased into what you fear, Eto, since it's obvious my colleagues are searching for me. And I hate to see what they're planning to do to _you_ , ghoul, upon finding me." 

Sensing a newfound sense of brazenness in Akira's actions the ghoul switched tactics for a more aggressive approach. Clutching the human's throat, Eto snarled under the bandages.

Sharp jabs of pain rang through Akira as she fought every urge to choke. The pain was unbelievable from the previous two factors- having the feeding tube shoved down her nostril and throat followed by the extreme thirst.

" _Defy me all you want, Dove, but I will obtain the answers I seek_."

The ghoul gripped Akira's chin to tilt her head back and force her mouth open. The bright flare of the lights made Akira's eyes water as she tried to peer down towards her opponent.

" _You look thirsty, perhaps it's time for a drink_?"

Without warning, the cup of water was forced into Akira's mouth. At first she felt relief to feel the cool substance coat her aching throat until the reality hit her. Eto was trying to choke her.

The bounded woman began flimsy jumping in her seat to throw Eto's hold off to no prevail.

Sure enough as her fight defense mechanisms were activated the human began choking on the liquid. Akira felt her throat tighten and sheer panic settled in.

She gurgled to try sloshing some of the liquid away but Eto shoved the cup further into Akira's mouth.

"How pitiful, Miss Associate Class, to see someone of your stature degraded to such a pathetic demise," Eto ridiculed.

The human was beginning to black out when she heard a door suddenly open in the background and a set of quiet footsteps move further into the room. Out of the corner of her eye she could make out a figure shrouded in a black cloak.

"The king is asking to meet with you, Eto. According to our Intel, one of our bases was discovered by CCG and the ghouls there were completely annihilated. An emergency meeting was called," spoke a young man's voice apathetically.

Beneath the bandages an outline of a frown formed.

"Which base?" Eto inquired darkly.

"I believe it's located in the southern region."

"Damn, the Doves just can't let a girl have some fun," whined the child ghoul.

"Just when I was getting to the good part," Eto muttered under her breath.

Resting her head against her shoulder to give one last lingering gaze on the fading human Eto tossed the cup to the side. Akira released a shaky breath the moment the cup was removed.

Eto gripped her hands above her head to pop some joints. "Oh well, things have gotten dull down here."

Akira's head lobbed to the side drunkenly as she blearily observed the ghouls' interaction.

"Find someone to take care of this issue, Owl," Eto demanded before walking out of the room.

Upon hearing the visiting ghoul's name Akira tried to foster up some look of scorn but found herself too exhausted. In the distance the dark shroud stared at her vacantly but made no move to assist her.

Closing her eyes she decided to rest for the short period allocated. In the background, the sounds of the clock's handles moved endlessly but the sound was soothing this time around.

In the week that followed different ghouls entered and exited the room all hours of the day to keep checks on whether she had escaped. By this time Akira had lost a good deal of body weight and grown lethargic due to lack mobility. Even if she managed to loosen her bonds the woman lacked the energy to get too far.

Since she had no way to track time Akira lost count of how many days had passed by. Something the Aogiri Executives found great pleasure in mocking her on.

After days of starvation the woman became disoriented to the point she honestly believed Tatara's lie she had been kept captive for a year. Mockingly Tatara bragged about whether the woman would last another year.

Whenever despair began to rear its' ugly head the human reminded herself about her friends' search for her.

Sadly this comforting thought began to lose its' appeal after days of Tatara slicing her ligaments up with a kitchen knife. The woman was determined to remain silent and not show weakness. Eventually she grew immune to the pain and forgot how to feel.

Akira's eyes grew vacant as she stared mindlessly at the clock.

The days became a never-ending routine of sleep followed by hours of interrogation and torture and then ending in the woman losing unconsciousness.

The ghouls would demand information on her colleagues and were never satisfied with her answers. Claiming they were disappointed in her lack of effort they began blasting music to prevent her from sleeping.

Exhaustion crept in and dark circles appeared underneath her eyes, her skin grew paler and hollowness settled in her face and bones.

The woman developed a doll like mindset where she forgot how to show emotion as hours were spent waiting for sleep or torture.

And then the day would begin anew.

Author's Note: Here's a Christmas gift for everyone! Hope the holidays treat you well lovely readers. This is a rather somber chapter and a severe lack of Owl and Akira interaction but I did forewarn everyone there would be torture in this story. I plan to include some of Owl/Seidou's perspective as time moves on but right now I prefer him being enigmatic. Luckily Owl will have more presence in the upcoming chapters since Eto is being an attention hog.


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